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Children's response to community violence: What do we know?
Author(s) -
Garbarino James
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
infant mental health journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1097-0355
pISSN - 0163-9641
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0355(199322)14:2<103::aid-imhj2280140204>3.0.co;2-6
Subject(s) - poverty , socioeconomic status , context (archaeology) , domestic violence , mental health , psychology , psychiatry , medicine , suicide prevention , poison control , medical emergency , environmental health , population , geography , political science , archaeology , law
This article presents a framework for understanding the developmental significance of violence‐related trauma in the lives of young children. It emphasizes the importance of the distinction between acute and chronic trauma. Acute trauma is more readily dealt with through “psychological first aid” and a “therapy of reassurance.” Chronic trauma requires a more systematic reconstruction of the child's “social map” of the world. The socioeconomic and demographic correlates of violent trauma predict an accumulation of risk factors in the child's life that compounds the problem of developmental disability. The problem community violence poses for the child must be understood in the larger context of greater risk for family disruption (including less than secure attachment) as well as domestic violence, poverty, and minority group status. The increasing incidence and prevalence of community violence poses a major challenge to the mental health of children.