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Article Summary

Finkelhor, D., Turner, H., Ormrod, R., Hamby, S., & Kracke, K. (2009).
Children's exposure to violence: A comprehensive national study. (October 2009). Juvenile Justice Bulletin. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC.

     In this Juvenile Justice Bulletin, the authors discuss the findings of the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV), one of the most recent and comprehensive studies of this subject. The project stems from the Attorney General’s Safe Start Initiative and was supported by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
     The NatSCEV data were collected between January and May of 2008. This research project expanded the scope of previous victimization studies by including children of all ages (from birth to 17 years), and by providing the most exhaustive list of types of exposure to violence in the home, community, and school, rather than focusing on a single type of victimization. Interviews were conducted over the phone, and interviewers asked children about different types of victimization ranging from bullying and emotional teasing to Internet harassment; child maltreatment; physical assault by parents, siblings, and peers; sexual assault; and witnessing violence. (Parents or caretakers were used as proxies for children under the age of 10.) Questions were asked about the previous year and about cumulative life experiences
     The findings indicate that children’s exposure to violence in the United States is common, and as children grow older the risk for victimization increases. Over 60% of the sample were directly or indirectly exposed to some type of violence in the previous year. Over one-third of those victimized (38%) reported more than one direct victimization experience within the previous year. Almost half of the sample reported being assaulted at least once in the previous year (46.3%). Furthermore, children who were exposed to one type of violence were also found to be at greater risk for other types of victimization. For example, children who were physically assaulted in the previous year were five times more likely to also have experienced sexual assault. This bulletin provides detailed information on the findings of the NatSCEV study by category: Physical Assault, Bullying, Sexual Victimization, Child Maltreatment, Witnessing and Indirect Exposure to Violence, and Multiple and Cumulative Victimizations.
     The authors identify the need for researchers and practitioners to continue to collaborate to identify and combat the short- and long-term effects of exposure to violence. They argue that future research and policy initiatives must incorporate a broad perspective with specific questions on a wide range of victimizations, and that assessment and screening tools must be further developed for children of all ages. Finally, while research has documented the ill effects of exposure to violence (e.g., see Gilbert et al., 2009), more ongoing and systematic research needs to be conducted on the impact of victimization across the life course.

References:

Gilbert, R., Widom, C.S., Browne, K.D., Fergusson, D.M., Webb, E., & Janson, S. (2009). Burden and consequences of child maltreatment in high-income countries. The Lancet 373, 68–81.