Measuring Violence Exposure.


Since multiple perspectives are often involved in defining violence, Dr. Leavitt emphasized that the research community needs to find a reasonably small number of variables that explain a lot of the variance. It is also important to talk to children and to find the best ways to interact with them. Children may be the best informants regarding their own experiences and parents may be unaware of children’s exposure to violence. Parents may not be motivated to report their children’s experiences accurately and may also have different ideas compared to their children about what constitutes violence.

When developing scales to measure children’s exposure to violence, researchers should have a conceptual model in mind. The research community needs to address the type of exposure in context, in terms of community, home, school, or media, and then choose instruments that can best measure this. Within that framework, it is essential to look at the proximity of the violence, its intensity and frequency, and the relationship between the perpetrator and victim. Generally, exposure to violence is measured in yearly or lifetime increments. For instance, most questionnaires look at a child’s yearly exposure to violence but it is important to look at exposure to violence in context: 2 years to a 5-year old is different from 2 years to a 16-year old in terms of lifetime exposure. 

Tools such as interviews or questionnaires to measure exposure should be developmentally sensitive, and take into account the child’s cognitive, memory, and reading levels. Researchers should also consider the reliability (test-retest) and validity of the survey instruments, develop consistent questions, and validate the child’s responses from other sources. In terms of surveys, there is a need for a national snapshot of children’s exposure to violence, and for researchers to replicate previous surveys for reliability and validity. While studies of children’s exposure to violence have become more prevalent in the last 5 years, a great deal of research is needed on younger children, who can not read and express themselves as easily as older children. Dr. Leavitt discussed his work with the use of cartoon questionnaires as an effective tool for interacting with young children in a developmentally appropriate way. It is also important to measure peer victimization (or “bullying”) since children have reported that they see this as a real danger in their lives. Finally, researchers must recognize that institutional review board (IRB) approval and education as well as informed consent for parents and children are critical to the success of these studies.


 Lewis Leavitt, M.D., University of Wisconsin

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