1-014 - Indirect Effects of Violence On Human Development: Lessons from Diverse Latin American Samples

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Despite methodological challenges to identify causal effects of indirect exposure to violence on child development, recent work suggest that violence permeates ecological contexts through second-hand accounts, community perceptions, and social relationships among residents. Effects of indirect exposure have been documented in diverse developmental areas and populations, yet little is known about the developmental and social mechanisms that translate these sources of exposure on detrimental effects for youth. This gap is even larger in Latin American countries where different motivations for violence coexist within settings.
We present three papers exploring the indirect effects of violence on indicators of emotional health, academic progress, and achievement among a diverse sample of Latin American children living in chronically exposed settings. The first paper documents how indirect exposure to violence promotes the development of mental health symptoms among children in Bogota, Colombia. The second paper explores how violence affects the on-time grade progression of school-age children in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The third paper explores the consequences of exposure on the academic achievement of adolescents in Cali and Medellin, in Colombia. As a whole, the symposium presents a developmental progression of effects, along with potential protective factors that may mitigate them. Individually, each paper illustrates methodological and conceptual challenges related to the study of indirect effects of violence on child development, alongside the opportunity that heavily exposed samples in Latin America offer to the development of intervention frameworks to mitigate negative effects.

Sub Unit

• Family Context & Processes

Chair

• Andres E Molano, Universidad de los Andes

Discussant

• Amanda L Roy, University of Illinois, Chicago

Individual Presentations

• The Effect of Chronic and Acute Exposure to Local Violent Crime on Children’s Mental Health and PTSD - Presenting Author: Jorge Armando Cuartas Ricaurte, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University; Non-Presenting Author: Tama Leventhal, Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development, Tufts University

• The effects of community violence on on-time grade progression in Rio de Janeiro - Presenting Author: Diana Goldemberg, Fundação Getúlio Vargas; Non-Presenting Author: Emily Hanno, Harvard University

• Human Development in Hostile Environments: Impact of Urban Violence on the Academic Performance of Colombian Children - Presenting Author: Andres E Molano, Universidad de los Andes; Non-Presenting Author: Arturo Harker, Universidad de los Andes