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The Context of Violence for Children of Color:
Violence in the Community and in the Media: Report of
Research Findings *
Kathy Sanders-Phillips, PhD
Director, Research Program in the Epidemiology and
Prevention of Drug Abuse,
Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Howard
University College of Medicine
Ella Mizzell Kelly, PhD
Deputy Director, Research Program in the Epidemiology and
Prevention of Drug Abuse, Department of Pediatrics and
Child Health, Howard University College of Medicine
Abstract: Exposure to community violence
may be associated with psychological stress, greater risk
taking and aggression, and learning problems in children
of color, while exposure to media violence may be related
to increased aggression, psychological trauma, and other
psychological and behavioral outcomes. Unfortunately,
relationships between children’s exposure to community and
media violence have not been fully examined. Our research
on the multi-dimensionality of violence as impacting
potential for health risks for children of color suggests
that both community and media violence on child
functioning may be cumulative and should be examined in
future studies of the development of children of color.
Major points:
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Low-income
children of color in America are exposed to many types
of violence: that experienced in the home, experienced
or observed in schools, playgrounds, parks and the
communities in which they play and grow.
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While
community and media violence affect all racial and
ethnic groups, ethnic minority youth, especially African
Americans and Hispanic Americans may be
disproportionately affected by exposure to both
community violence and exposure to media violence.
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First,
violence is not equally distributed across neighborhoods
and ethnic/racial groups; it occurs at a higher rate in
low-income neighborhoods, especially among the young,
and in public places.
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Research
shows that children’s exposure to community violence is
related to a wide array of behavioral and psychological
difficulties. Also, that children’s exposure to media
violence is related to increased aggression, the
prevalence of psychological trauma, and other
psychological and behavioral outcomes.
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Our review of
the literature has led to our conceptual modeling of the
potential moderating effect of the media violence in the
relationship between exposure to community violence and
adverse psychosocial and behavior outcomes in low-
income children. This model posits that exposure to
community violence is a significant correlate of poor
development and psychosocial outcomes as well as
maladaptive functioning in children. However, the
degree of the impact of exposure to community violence
on children’s outcomes may depend, in part, on the level
of exposure to media violence.
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Based on our
model, we would predict that children who are exposed to
high levels of both community and media violence will
have significantly poorer outcomes than children
exposure to community violence alone. Thus, we predict
that exposure to high levels of media violence will
exacerbate the relationship between exposure to
community violence and poor outcomes.
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Consequently,
we argue that we cannot understand the development of
behaviors or responses to community violence in children
of color without reference to the effects of mass media
and other stressors. Low-income children of color must
too often endure the cumulative effects of
exposure to community violence, media violence, poverty,
racism, oppression, and other forms of abuse. These
experiences reinforce feelings of alienation from the
larger society as well as feelings of helplessness and
powerlessness that may be extended to life, in general,
and to health, in particular.
*Presentation based on:
Jipguep, Marie-Claude and Sanders-Phillips, Kathy (2003).
The Context of Violence for Children of Color: Violence in
the Community and in the Media.
Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 72, No. 4(Fall):379-395.
Ella Mizzell Kelly,
PhD (ekelly@howard.edu)
is Deputy Director, Research Program in the Epidemiology
and Prevention of Drug Abuse (PEPDA) in the College of
Medicine at Howard University. She is responsible for the
management of a large research program that focuses on the
relationship of community violence and ethnic identity on
child and adolescent health risk behaviors such as alcohol
and drug abuse, and HIV/AIDS. Dr. Kelly has conducted
research on the psycho-social impact of HIV/AIDS on
low-income and minority group adolescent girls of color.
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