The relationship between exposure to community violence, social support, parenting attitudes and child behavioural adjustment

Includes bibliography.The present study investigates the relationships between exposure to community violence, household demographic characteristics, social support , parenting attitudes and child/adolescent behavioural adjustment. Participants were drawn from two economically disadvantaged, high-violence neighbourhoods in the Western Cape. The total sample comprised 305 children aged between 9 and 16 years and their primary caregivers (N = 213) . Questionnaires were administered to children at primary and high schools . Caregivers were administered questionnaires in their homes by trained research assistants . Children completed the Survey of Exposure to Community Violence, the Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale and the Social Support Scale for children. Caregivers completed a demographic questionnaire, the South African Child Assessment Schedule, the Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory and the Social Support Questionnaire for caregivers. Analyses of variance and covariance, Pearson's Product-Moment correlations, and hierarchical multiple regression procedures were conducted to establish direct and indirect relationships between exposure to community violence, household demographic characteristics, social support, parenting attitudes and child/adolescent behavioural adjustment. The results of this study indicate strikingly few violence-related behavioural disturbances in children and adolescents . Other variables, particularly parenting attitudes and child social support were identified as the most important determinants of child and adolescent outcomes . The findings additionally indicate that parental social support mediates the relationship between parental attitudes and internalising symptoms in participating children and adolescents . The need to develop more complex and comprehensive models of community, parental and child factors contributing to child/adolescent outcomes in high-risk South African neighbourhood contexts is discussed