The Effects of Childhood Exposure to Neighborhood and Community Violence: Impacts on the Safety and Well-being of Low-Income, Minority Children

Abstract

In any given year, more than 6 out of 10 children in the United States are exposed to some form of violence in the neighborhood, at school, or within the home; half of these children experience polyvictimization, or exposure to multiple forms of violence. Despite widespread concern about childhood exposure to violence, researchers continue to have remarkable gaps in their knowledge about causal pathways that link exposure to neighborhood or community violence and the short- and long-term consequences on the safety and well-being of low-income, minority children. Notably absent from contemporary scholarly and policy debates on such exposure are the voices of community practitioners and community practice scholars. In this article, we identify the major theoretical and empirical challenges associated with conducting this line of community research. Next, we assess the state of the current theoretical and empirical research related to neighborhood and community effects on childhood exposure to violence and an array of childhood outcomes. We then specify the empirical and practical knowledge needed to advance the field of community practice in this area. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of the policy and practice implications associated with the inclusion of a “community practice voice” in addressing childhood exposure to neighborhood violence.

KEYWORDS:

• neighborhood and community effects
• childhood exposure to violence
• low-income
• minority children

Notes

1. ¹ We acknowledge the extensive research conducted by Garbarino and associates on the effects of childhood exposure to violence. However, this work does not directly address questions about the causal mechanisms by which exposure to neighborhood violence affects child health and well-being.

2. ² For a more comprehensive analysis of the challenges in conducting empirical research on neighborhood effects, see Oakes (2004) and Galster (2008).

3. ³ We recognize that low-income parents have very circumscribed geographic choices, given the paucity of affordable housing and housing assistance in the United States. Nevertheless, there clearly is substantial variation in crime rates across neighborhoods inhabited by low-income families, suggesting that at least some modicum of choice over this residential attribute is feasible for them.

4. ⁴ One prototype is the Making Connections study design that was generously funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.