No safe haven: a study of violence exposure in an urban community.
OBJECTIVE
To examine levels of violence exposure and reports of feeling unsafe in relation to psychological and behavioral characteristics for a general population sample of youths from an urban setting.


METHODS
A comprehensive survey of high-risk behaviors, attitudes, indicators of adaptive behavior, and daily involvements was administered to a sample of 2,248 students in the 6th, 8th, and 10th grades in an urban public school system.


RESULTS
More than 40% of the youths surveyed reported exposure to a shooting or stabbing in the past year, and 74% reported feeling unsafe in one or more common environmental contexts. Multiple regression analyses indicated significant relationships between violence exposure/feeling unsafe and a set of indicators of psychological and behavioral adaptation and expressed attitudes.


CONCLUSIONS
These results attest to the picture of violence as a common fact of inner-city life and to the demand that is placed on urban youths to accommodate in their psychological development to chronic threat and lack of safety.
Schwab-Stone
M E
ME
Harris Program on Child Psychiatry, Child Development, and Social Policy, Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, CT 06520-7900, USA.
Ayers
T S
TS
Kasprow
W
W
Voyce
C
C
Barone
C
C
Shriver
T
T
Weissberg
R P
RP
D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008913:Minority Groups; D012309:Risk-Taking; D014481:United States; D014505:Urban Population; D014754:Violence