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Community violence as it affects child development: issues of definition
Penelope K Trickett1, Lorena Durán, John L Horn
1School of Social Work, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089-0411, USA. pennyt@usc.edu
Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review
|January 15, 2004
Summary
Defining community violence for child development research is complex. Studies use varied child or parent reports of experiencing, witnessing, or hearing violence, often with untested assumptions about measurement. Better theoretical frameworks are needed.
Area of Science:
- Child Development
- Sociology
- Psychology
Background:
- Community violence significantly impacts child development.
- Existing research definitions of community violence vary widely.
- The measurement of community violence exposure in children lacks standardization.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the state of the art in defining community violence in relation to child development.
- To analyze the definitions used in 23 empirical studies.
- To identify measurement challenges and suggest improvements for defining community violence.
Main Methods:
- Systematic review of 23 empirical studies on community violence and child development.
- Analysis of how community violence was defined and measured in each study.
- Categorization of definitions based on observer (child/parent) and proximity to violence (experiencing/witnessing/hearing).
Main Results:
- Twenty-three studies employed 8 distinct definitions of community violence.
- Definitions relied on child or parent reports of experiencing, witnessing, or hearing violence.
- Implicit, untested assumptions about event interchangeability and magnitude equality were common.
Conclusions:
- Defining community violence for child development research is a measurement problem.
- Community violence exposure is likely multidimensional.
- Improved definitions require explicit theoretical frameworks and rigorous testing of measurement assumptions.