title: Emotional impact of children's exposure to community violence: a preliminary study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To use multiple methods and measures to investigate preliminarily the emotional impact of children's exposure to community violence.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-seven schoolchildren between the ages of 7 and 12 years were categorized into groups with "high" or "low" frequency of exposure.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Differing levels of exposure to community violence did not appear to have an impact on DSM-III-R diagnoses. Exposure to high levels of community violence was not related to internalizing behavior and disorders, but rather was associated with externalizing behavior.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There appears to be an adverse relationship between high levels of exposure to community violence and emotional and conduct problems. Vicarious learning serves as an explanatory construct for these findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030-4444, USA.
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Cooley-Quille
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Beidel
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D012647:Self-Assessment; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D014754:Violence