Defining and Conceptualizing Children’s Exposure to Violence.

 Drawing upon 20 years of experience examining definitional issues in the field of child abuse and neglect research, Dr. Trickett summarized the critical issues for studying children exposed to violence. First, better definitions are needed to facilitate communication in this complex research area. At the same time, better definitions will enable scientific progress through better understanding of the independent variables, as well as the components of treatment that “make the difference.” It is also important to sort out the contextual factors that may affect children such as poverty, the family environment, neighborhood violence, and whether these children experience other forms of victimization. Children in child abuse and neglect studies frequently experience more than one form of abuse, with 90 percent of the subjects in one study experiencing more than one form of abuse and neglect. In addition, community violence may affect rates of child abuse since violent neighborhoods tend to have higher rates of physical child abuse. These factors should be considered when conducting a study. Dr. Trickett presented data on the characteristics of sexual abuse trauma and their impact on girls’ development to demonstrate the use of a conceptual model for understanding the possible independent variables. For the sample of victims studied, a number of factors must be considered as independent variables, including severity of abuse, age of onset, duration, relationship to perpetrator, and whether there were multiple perpetrators. These factors are interrelated and can make a “difference” in how one child reacts to abuse compared to another. Data on the onset and duration of abuse for different perpetrator categories also illustrate the variability of experiences of abuse that must be considered. There is also a need to better assess the reliability and validity of reporters. In comparing the reliability of parents and children as reporters of abuse, children are more consistent. Studies on domestic violence have shown a lack of concurrence between parents and children about the child’s exposure to violence, often because the parent is involved in the violence and may under report it. Therefore, it is important to consider other sources of information such as police records or neighbors. Finally, researchers need to look at children’s exposure to violence from a multidimensional perspective that considers variables such as the severity of violence (e.g., watching a drug deal versus watching a neighbor get shot and killed), its dangerousness and proximity, the frequency, duration, and timing of the violence, the relationship of the child to the perpetrator or victim, and the context in which the violence occurs.

Penelope K. Trickett, Ph.D., University of Southern California

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