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July 08, 2005

The Effects of Witnessing Violence

Psychiatric News, the Newspaper of the American Psychiatric Association, has a story about witnessing violence in its July 1 issue. Writer Joan Arehart-Treichel takes a look at a study which says just witnessing violence can lead to violent behavior in youngsters. The study was published in Science and conducted principally by Felton Earls, M.D., a psychiatrist and a professor of social medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Investigators studied "some 1,500 12-year-olds and 15-year-olds from 78 Chicago neighborhoods and collected extensive information from the youngsters, their families, neighborhood residents, and census data. The information concerned variables such as temperament, family background, neighborhood characteristics, scholastic performance, and previous exposure to violence—altogether more than 150 items of information." Interviews were done again after two years to learn who had seen someone being shot or shot at and then after three more years to determine which of them engaged in violence. Twelve percent had, and of those a significant statistical amount were witnesses to violence in the earlier interview.

Read more at the link below. The original study is also listed, but you will need a paid subscription to Science to read the full text.

Related link:

"Witnessing Violence Makes Youth More Violence Prone", Psychiatric News, July 1, 2005, Volume 40, Number 13
"Firearm Violence Exposure and Serious Violent Behavior", Science, Vol 308, Issue 5726, 1323-1326, 27 May 2005 (Subscription Required for full article, Free Subscription Required to read abstract and some information)

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