Community Violence
What is community violence?
Community violence is interpersonal violence perpetrated by individuals who are NOT intimately related to the victim [1].
Usually occurs without warning and comes as a sudden and terrifying shock [2].
Includes sexual assault, burglary, mugging, the sound of gunshots, presence of gangs, drug abuse, racial tension, and other forms of social disorder [4].
Children are especially impacted: More than 40% of youths surveyed (N = 2248) report exposure to a shooting or stabbing in the past year, and 74% reported feeling unsafe in one or more common environmental contexts [5].
Risk factors of exposure to violence: [3] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Troubled family life (e.g., broken homes, abuse, neglect, drugs, minimal parental involvement) [3] [10]
Urbanization and inner-city living [10]
Individual factors (e.g., gender, age, race, ethnicity) [6]
Prolonged effects:
Higher levels of externalizing disorders, internalizing disorders, and PTSD among inner city youth in a meta-analysis that assessed outcomes from 114 studies [11].
Directly experiencing violence was associated with greater externalizing and internalizing symptoms than witness.
PTSD was equally linked with victimization, witnessing, and hearing about violence.
In an urban sample of 615 teens, exposure to violence prospectively predicted an increase in all symptoms assessed (i.e., internalizing, externalizing, posttraumatic stress, and dissociative symptoms) [12].
Gender makes a difference in outcome: Boys experienced more violence than girls.
Compared to boys, girls who experienced violence were more likely to experience dissociation, but not the other symptoms.
Other effects include:
Prevention: [10]
Life skills and social development programs to help children and adolescents manage anger, resolve conflict, and develop the necessary social skills to solve problems tend to aid in prevention.
School-based anti-bullying and safety programs are also great additional resources: