Violence in Belfast--a review of the psychological effects

The Effect of Exposure during an Ongoing Climate of Violence on Children's Self-Perceptions, as Reflected in Drawings

Many children in South Africa are subjected to continually high levels of stress and political violence. Children who are exposed to violent stressors may be at increased risk for the development of stress-related effects and emotional difficulties. Current research on the effects of political violence on children thus far has yielded inconclusive results. Some researchers find severe effects, while others interpret their findings to indicate that the majority of children are resilient. In this study, the Draw-A-Person test and drawings of the street or area where the children lived were used to examine possible levels of stress and emotional difficulties, as well as coping styles and defence mechanisms, in a sample of one hundred and fifteen eight- to twelve-year-old children from Gauteng, South Africa during the 1993 pre-election period. Christiansen's checklist of behaviour difficulties was also administered to the teachers of the children, in order to gain information on the children's overt behaviour. Comparison of the Draw-A-Person Tests showed that violence appeared to be a pertinent stressor. Black South African children from particularly high violence areas showed more distress on their drawings than white suburban children, with the girl's distress levels appearing higher than the boys'. However, on drawings obtained from children distributed in areas across Gauteng, boys appeared more vulnerable than girls. Use of different coping styles and defence mechanisms appeared to influence the effect of stress on the children. Social support and denial appeared to assist coping, while feelings of helplessness and internalisation of anger appeared detrimental.

Children of "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland: Perspectives and Intervention

The chronology of investigations focusing on the effects of "the Troubles" on the children of Northern Ireland is presented. Studies by Belfast psychiatrists, visitors from the United States, and Scottish and English psychologists dominated the first decade of the 25-year-old conflict and were marked by a distinctly pessimistic appraisal of the impact of the troubled situation on the children. Developmental psychologists from within Northern Ireland have been very active studying the children of their own country for the second decade of the crisis. The view from the "inside" is more complicated and, in some ways, more optimistic than the view from the "outside". In addition, results are reported from preliminary investigations involving children participating in a widely practised intervention scheme developed to ameliorate the detrimental effects of the troubled situation. The intervention programme may foster improvement in an individual child's self-perception but not necessarily in that child's perception of other and multiple stressors interact to determine the influence of such intervention schemes.