Preschool Children's Exposure to Violence Relation of Behavior Problems to Parent and Child Reports

• Published in: American journal of orthopsychiatry Vol. 70; no. 1; pp. 115 - 125
• Main Authors: Shahinfar, Ariana, Fox, Nathan A, Leavitt, Lewis A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK American Orthopsychiatric Association, Inc 01-01-2000; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; American Orthopsychiatric Association; Educational Publishing Foundation; American Psychological Association
• Subjects: Adult; Behavior Problems; Behavioural problems; Behaviourism; Biological and medical sciences; Child Attitudes; Child Behavior Disorders - etiology; Child Behavior Disorders - psychology; Child Welfare; Child, Preschool; Children; Clinical psychology; Communities; Community violence; Distress; Exposure; Factors; family studies; Female; Human; Humans; Internalization; Male; Medical sciences; Parent-Child Relations; Parental Attitudes; Parents; Preschool Children; Project Head Start; Psychological Distress; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Social Conditions; Social psychiatry. Ethnopsychiatry; Sociocultural environment; Stress, Psychological; Symptoms; USA; Violence; Washington, D.C; Witnesses; Human; Mood disorder; Preschool age; Social environment; Violence; Risk factor; Depression; Exposure; Child; Social behavior disorder; Aggressiveness
• ISSN: 0002-9432; 1939-0025
• DOI: 10.1037/h0087690

A group of 155 parents and their preschool children attending Head Start reported on the children's exposure to community violence, level of distress symptoms, and behavioral problems. The behavioral correlates of exposure were found to differ according to exposure modality: internalizing problems were more likely in children who witnessed violence, and externalizing problems in those victimized by violence. Issues regarding self-reports by preschool children are highlighted, and clinical and research implications discussed.