Adolescents’ perceptions and understandings of the risk and protective factors related to community violence exposure in a low- income community in Cape Town
Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: There is widespread evidence that exposure to community violence is escalating at an alarming rate, not only in South Africa, but worldwide.The literature indicates that the cohort affected is primarily children and adolescents.Whilst a significant amount of empirical research focuses on exposure to community violence and the identification of risk and protective factors, there is a paucity of initiatives providing in-depth investigations into the dynamics of these factors.An explorative study grounded in the meanings which adolescents assign to risk and protective factors is essential to provide comprehensive and sensitive care to adolescents exposed to community violence.v Chapter Four: Analysis and Discussion…………………………………………………………….31 4.1 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………..31 4.2 Findings of the study ……………………………………………………………………………31 4.3.Thematic category 1: Perceptions and understandings of risk factors related to exposure to community violence exposure………………………………………………………………………33 4.3.1 Person-related characteristics…………………………………………………………….. 33 4.3.2Context-related characteristics ……………………………………………………………36 4.4.Thematic category 2: Perceptions and understandings of protective factors related to exposure to community violence exposure……………………………………………………………………57 4.4.1 Person-related characteristics……………………………………………………………… 57 4.4.2Context-related characteristics …………………………………………………………….60 4.5 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………72 Chapter Five: Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………75 5.1 Summary of the study …………………………………………………………………………..75 5.2 Summary of the findings ………………………………………………………………………..76 5.2.1.Person-related risk and protective factors ………………………………………………..76 5.2.2 Context-related risk and protective factors ……………………………………………….775.3 Limitations of the study…………………………………………………………………………84 5.4 Significance of the study ………………………………………………………………………..85 5.5 Recommendations ………………………………………………………………………………86 Reflection ……………………………………………………………………………………………..88 References …………………………………………………………………………………………….90 Appendix A ………………………………………………………………………………………….104 Appendix B ………………………………………………………………………………………….106 Appendix C ………………………………………………………………………………………….108 Appendix D ………………………………………………………………………………………….110 1 Chapter One: Introduction 1.1 BackgroundGlobally, the issue of violence remains an area of major concern, resulting in a range of psychological and social consequences.In South Africa it is a serious public health problem and is growing at an exponential rate, especially within the Western Cape (Dawes, Long, Alexander & Ward, 2006).The harmful effects of violence cause over 1.6 million deaths per year, with at least 16 million cases of harm having been brutal enough to require medical attention (WHO, 2008).In South Africa 15 609 murders, 191 651 cases of assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm and 181 670 common assault cases were reported in 2012 (Information Management Centre statistics for 2012).Violence can be divided into three broad categories: Self-directed violence (including suicidal behaviours and self-abuse), interpersonal violence (including family violence and community violence), and collective violence (including social violence, political violence and economic violence) (WHO, 2008).Community violence in particular has grown to be one of the most serious social problems in contemporary South Africa.Community violence is defined by McCart et al. (2007, p. 434) as "deliberate acts intended to cause physical harm against a person in the community", and has deleterious effects on families, communities and society as a whole (Lynch, 2003;Salzinger et al., 2002).Overstreet (2000) argues that there is a need for more in-depth understanding of community violence as the cohort affected is primarily children and adolescents.Persistent exposure to community violence can have damaging effects on victims, particularly on adolescents as they are still developing neurologically and physically and need to perform cognitively on a regular basis (Dahlberg & Potter, 2001).The nature of these effects, however, is multifaceted (Overstreet, 2000).Researchers have portrayed links between exposure to community violence and symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (O'Donnell, Roberts & Schwab-Stone, 2011;Rosenthal, 2000), anxiety (Noni, Jamila & Zelencik, 2011;Rosenthal, 2000), dissociation (Rosenthal, 2000), depression (Rosenthal, 2000;Lambert et al., 2010), suicidal behaviour (Cooley-Quille & Lorion, 1999), increased drug intake (Vermeiren et al., 2003), reduction in children's positive peer interaction and academic and cognitive performances (Farver, Natera & Frosch, 1999;Schwartz & Gorman, 2003).Although it is evident that exposure to community violence has
Author: Christelle Larke
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1556360331