Children’s Exposure to Violence Over Space and Time

In collaboration with Ohio State University, NCCF researchers used data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) to explore the predictors and consequences of children’s exposure to community violence, inter-parental violence, parent-to-child violence, and family and friend suicide. Analyses focused on four primary aims:

1) To explore trajectories of exposure to violence over childhood and adolescence,

2) To examine predictors of children’s exposure to violence at the level of the individual, family, and community,

3) To examine the effects of exposure to violence on children’s behavior, academic adjustment, and early exits from adolescence, and

4) To identify multilevel factors that may mediate or moderate the relations between exposure to violence and child/adolescent outcomes.

Analyses involved 6, 9, 12, and 15-year-old cohort data from the PHDCN longitudinal study, as well as PHDCN systematic social observations and community surveys.

Funding Source: National Institutes of Health.

Contact: Margo Gardner, Ph.D.