Abstract
Internalization and externalization of negative symptomology associated with witnessing community violence can manifest in a number of disorders in children. Of those disorders diagnosed in childhood, research has shown that conduct disorder, social anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, intermittent explosive disorder, and disruptive mood dysregulation have a potential link to witnessing violence. Internalization symptoms can manifest as depressive mood, low self-esteem, and deficits in social interaction, poor interpersonal relationships, behavioral difficulties, and an overall poor adjustment. Externalization symptoms typically manifest in outwardly aggressive behaviors like physical and verbal violence, destruction of property, self-harm or self-destructive behaviors, tantrums, and antisocial tendencies. This review seeks to investigate the relation between attachment styles and the internalization and externalization of symptoms associated with witnessing community violence among African American youths who live in a lower income urban portion of the inner city. This study seeks to answer the following questions: What is the relationship between school, gender, and age of the participant and the expression of symptomology, what is the relationship between attachment style and symptomology, does violence severity moderate the relationship between witnessing community violence and symptomology, does attachment style moderate the relationship between witnessing violence and symptomology, and does attachment style moderate the relationship between violence severity and symptomology?
Highlights
Witnessing violence, in any form, is highly correlated with internalization and externalization of negative symptomology (Lynch, 2003)
This review seeks to investigate the relation between attachment styles and the internalization and externalization of symptoms associated with witnessing community violence among African American youths who live in a lower income urban portion of the inner city
This study seeks to answer the following questions: What is the relationship between school, gender, and age of the participant and the expression of symptomology, what is the relationship between attachment style and symptomology, does violence severity moderate the relationship between witnessing community violence and symptomology, does attachment style moderate the relationship between witnessing violence and symptomology, and does attachment style moderate the relationship between violence severity and symptomology?
Summary
Witnessing violence, in any form, is highly correlated with internalization and externalization of negative symptomology (Lynch, 2003). This can be problematic in children, as it increases the likelihood for experiencing impairments of cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development. In South East Washington DC, for example, there are 165 schools in which 72% of the fifth and sixth graders and 61% of the first and second graders said that they have directly witnessed one or more acts of community violence. A study in 1991 found that a sample of 1000 African American children studied reported directly witnessing a robbery, shooting, stabbing, or murder in their neighborhood (Children Witness to Violence Project, 1992)
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