Exposure to community violence and African American children: A multidimensional model of risks and resources

Abstract

The present study seeks to investigate how various facets of social and emotional adjustment, in a sample of urban African American children, are affected by their chronic exposure to community violence and other risk factors in their lives. It further explores how various resources in their environment sustain these children's adjustment at home and in school. In examining these issues, we endeavored to account for both the general and the differential effects of risk factors and resources on social-emotional adjustment. The fundamental problem explored in this study is the extent to which the various indicators of adjustment are differentially impacted by a common set of risk factors, and enhanced through a common set of protective mechanisms. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.