Youth exposure to violence and victimization in a South African community sample

Studies show that youth in low socioeconomic communities suffer significant disturbances in mental and emotional health because of exposure to violence and peer victimisation, manifesting in internalising disorders such as depression, anxiety and traumatic stress.

To examine the relation between risks and exposure to community violence and peer victimisation.

Low socioeconomic communities in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.

Data were collected via school and home interviews with youth and maternal caregivers using standardised schedules and instruments. These included the Demographics and Questions about Child's Health schedule, the Family History of Risk Questionnaire, the Child Behaviour Checklist, the Social Experiences Questionnaire and the Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence. Youth sample comprised 256 participants, with age range from 9 to 18 years, and 65% being female.

Sociodemographic risks were significantly associated with lifetime witnessing violence, victimisation and hearing about violence. Low maternal education was associated with overt peer victimisation and cyber-victimisation. Internalising conditions such as worry and oversensitivity, fear and concentration, youth anxiety and maternal anxiety were also significantly associated with violence exposure and peer victimisation.

Predisposing risks for exposure to violence and victimisation occur in all domains, suggesting that interventions should target these domains to minimise their impact. Co-occurring experience of violence at the personal, proximal and distal levels perpetuate a cyclical loop of violence, intersecting and influencing each other.

Risk factors such as anxious attachment, avoidant attachment and anxiety, conceptually often seen as maladaptive outcomes, also serve as predisposing risks for violence exposure.