Community and School Violence: Summary and Recommendations of breakout group.

The group posed the concept that the community is not just the location of the violence or a set of people, houses, and apartments. The community is a set of interconnecting relationships. Since violence in schools often stems from the community, the school can be viewed as an integral part of the community; therefore, it does not make sense to distinguish between school violence and community violence, except in unique issues such as bullying. We also need to understand school violence in terms of a chronic condition, not just acute incidents like Columbine. 

Research is needed to inform policymakers about best practices. Given this we need to know more about the following. 

Definitional and Measurement Issues 

• Is exposure to violence the same as witnessing violence? • How does being a victim differ from being in a violent environment? • How do we define the term “violent” and what it means to individual students and individual communities? How children perceive violence whether they see it or not? • How do different racial, ethnic, cultural groups define “community,” “family,” and “neighborhood?” • How do you define who is the “perpetrator” and who is the “victim?” Is that perceived differently in different communities? For instance, police may be considered the savior in one community and the bad guy in another. 

Effects of Violence on the Community 

• We know less about how violence exerts its influence on communities and families. • How does violence affect the community? How does the community buffer violence in its response to it? • What does the community reaction to violence do to children? Their reactions? Their development? • What are the specific outcomes of children exposed to dual violence (for example, domestic and community violence)? Do the effects differ for domestic violence compared to community violence? What are the implications for interventions? • What are the physical outcomes (health, trauma, disease) of community violence? Theoretical Studies • How do children develop values in terms of whom to trust and whom not to trust? • What are the key underlying pathways/mechanisms between being exposed to violence and the outcome of violence? This can be examined through longitudinal studies on the mediators of violence 

 Developmental Perspectives 

• How does exposure to violence affect each stage of a child’s development? How does violence affect the child at different stages of cognitive development? • There is very little known about how younger children (3-5) perceive and define their community. We need instruments that can better measure young children’s perception of their communities and neighborhoods. 

Ethnic/Cultural Perspectives

 • What is the impact of exposure to violence on other risk behaviors and ultimately health disparities? • Currently, much of the community violence research is being conducted in communities of color. How is exposure to violence impacted by ethnicity? • What causes feelings of alienation and hopelessness across ethnicity? • How do you disentangle the specific and individual effects of SES, ethnicity, and culture on community violence? Studies are needed that can provide that information. 

School Violence 

Participants noted that school violence should not be equated to Columbine, and that concentrating on school violence as an “island,” separate from community violence, is wrong. • What are the effects of chronic exposure to school violence on children in terms of normal development and educational outcomes? • What role can schools play in mediating school violence? • Some social problems are solvable. If you reduce family and community violence, does it change how children behave in schools? • How can you link government and education systems to improve the community? • Studies are needed to examine the effects of bullying in schools, particularly at younger ages. • Better instruments need to be developed to capture the qualities that describe the culture of a school.

 Moderators and Mediators

 • What are the protective factors, assets, etc. in a community that foster resilience to violence? • Does faith/religion modify an individual, family, and community response to violence? • How do substance abuse and the juvenile justice system contribute to community violence? 

Interventions 

We need more interventions directed at the community level compared to just individual only interventions. Policy and Legislation Studies of international gun control policies and their effects on community violence would be particularly useful.


NICHD Workshop on Children Exposed to Violence.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Domestic Violence: Summary of Recommendations.

 Considering the limitations of existing surveys, direct investigation offers the best hope for defining, substantiating, and understanding children’s exposure to domestic violence and assessing risks and impacts over time . However, as echoed elsewhere, future progress is predicated on standard definitions and data collection, with broader and more inclusive definitions of violence, assessments of risks and history, short- and long-term impacts, and connections to services and follow-up. Population-based surveillance systems that have standard protocols and take a developmental and cultural approach are critical. Too much of what is known comes from children in shelters, thus limiting our ability to generalize. Future research directions should include building a rigorous scientific capacity in partnership with strategic sentinels across municipalities. Researchers cannot adequately assess the impact of violence, including domestic violence, obtain quality information, or de...
Read more

Responses and Discussions related to Children's Exposure to Violence.

 Barbara L. Bonner, Ph.D., University of Oklahoma  Dr. Bonner’s perspective of children exposed to violence stems from her experience working with children after the Oklahoma City bombing, victims of terrorism and natural disasters, and adolescent sex offenders who had prolonged exposure to domestic violence. She stated that in 1962, a seminal article emerged on child maltreatment , and yet in 2002 we still do not have a standard set of definitions. Definitions, however, “drive the field” and enable researchers to conceptualize the problem, as well as incidence, prevalence, and prevention strategies . Meanwhile, researchers have jumped ahead with treatment interventions without the benefit of adequate definitions. It is also important to accurately understand the complexity of the child’s experience , the child’s perceptions and attributions , and those factors that foster resilience. In terms of children exposed to domestic violence, researchers need to employ standard defin...
Read more

Prevalence of Domestic Violence.

 A. Prevalence John Fantuzzo, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania  Dr. Fantuzzo discussed research on the prevalence of children exposed to domestic violence, opening his presentation with the following question: “We see through the glass dimly and is the glass half empty or half full?” In doing so, he was referring to the substantial amount of information lacking in the field, particularly regarding violence prevention and intervention. He cautioned, however, that we should not try to obtain data too quickly, explaining that this can lead to tensions among researchers, advocates, and practitioners, and ultimately leave the field with no standard definitions, no systematic way of substantiating violence or exposure, no organized network of sentinels, and no national prevalence data. Despite the challenges of conducting population-based inquiry , several national reports and databases are attempting to address the data inadequacy problem. These resources include National Crime R...
Read more