No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

One of the areas in which social workers can operate in is different forms of treatment, investigation and prevention work with youth that live in particularly vulnerable and urban areas. Areas in which the average income is lower in comparison to other areas, and areas that tend to be predominantly inhabited by ethnic minorities. These areas are particularly prone to gang crime and community violence. Thus affecting the overall safety of its inhabitants, in particular the youth population living there. The purpose of the present work is to investigate the connections that research has drawn attention to between community violence in particularly vulnerable areas and trauma reactions/signs of trauma among the young people who live in these areas by using the methodological approach of a literature study. The study seeks to understand found connections using psychological resilience theory and postcolonial theory. Findings of this study shows that as a result of living in areas particularly prone to community violence, a large proportion of youth are exposed to higher levels of community violence in various forms. Said exposure is also connected to certain symptoms of trauma, as well as other types of psychological distress. The results are connected to structural factors of a postcolonial society in which certain groups of people have no choice but to remain in the harmful area that they reside in. Resilience is valued, approached and defined differently in the studies that have been used in this work, but the overall result shows that it is a significant protective factor for youth that are exposed to community violence.

Community violence can have lasting impacts on populations that experience it, including but not limited to, financial damages, property damage, and psychological trauma. Therefore, exploring mechanisms of violence prevention is increasingly important, especially within the context of multicultural societies. This research does just that by approaching community violence prevention from an interdisciplinary perspective, including aspects of public health, political science, criminology, and sociology. This dissertation explores the interfaith organization InterFaith Leadership Council of Metro Detroit and those in the organization's network. It considers how interfaith leaders, through activism and dialogue, can contribute to community violence prevention. By applying the social ecological model and social disorganization theory, this research considers how to prevent community violence through building social capital, collective efficacy, and community capacity. This inquiry also utilized the social determinants of health to describe how violence and violence prevention is linked to community health. This dissertation uses qualitative data, including interviews, document analysis, and field notes to explore the mechanisms by which interfaith leadership can prevent community violence, specifically gang violence and violent extremism. / Doctor of Philosophy / Community violence can have lasting impacts on populations that experience it, including but not limited to, financial damages, property damage, and psychological trauma. Therefore, exploring methods of violence prevention is increasingly important. This dissertation uses qualitative data to explore community violence prevention in Metro Detroit as carried out by the InterFaith Leadership Council and its broader network. Included in this dissertation are insights from interviews, document analysis, and field notes. All this data informs the research and attempts to address how the question of how the interfaith community in Metro Detroit is working to prevent community violence. This research utilizes the social ecological model and social disorganization theory as its overarching framework for analysis. The analysis examines interfaith relationships, collective efficacy, and community capacity. This research also frames violence and violence prevention within the context of the social determinants of health in an attempt to identify the factors that affect violence and violence prevention.

This project examined psychosocial functioning associated with exposure to a chronic stressor, namely, community violence among randomly selected 8 to 17 year old African-American children and adolescents residing in a relatively high violent crime neighborhood. A structured psychiatric interview, the Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents-Revised, and self-report measures including Sexual Abuse Fear Evaluation, Horowitz Impact of Events Scale, and Children's Depression Inventory were administered. Consistent with previous findings, the results indicate that inner-city African-American children are exposed to a considerable amount of community violence. As predicted, high levels of exposure to community violence was significantly associated with various measures of psychological distress, particularly with externalizing symptomatology. Additionally, regression analyses revealed that exposure to community violence added significant variance above and beyond that contributed by pertinent demographic characteristics. Partial support was found for the hypotheses that number and quality of social supports as well as self-perceived competence (self-esteem) across various domains moderated the relationship between exposure to community violence and psychological distress. Discussion of the relatively low levels of PTSD, fear, and depression are discussed in terms of sample characteristics and cross-cultural relevance of current diagnostic nosology, as well as, instruments measuring psychological distress. Findings are also discussed within the context of the Conservation of Resources Model of stress. / Ph. D.

Despite theoretical support for the role of the family in providing a foundation to protect youth against risks for aggression, there is little published literature examining a protective influence. This study examined family functioning and perceived parental messages about fighting and nonviolence as moderators of the relation between risk factors and adolescent aggression. The specific risk factors included affiliating with a delinquent group of peers, attending a school with norms that support aggression, and witnessing violence within the community. Secondary analyses were conducted on data collected from a high-risk sample of 537 adolescents in 2 cohorts from 18 schools. Adolescents completed measures of peer delinquent behavior and community violence exposure at the beginning and end of the sixth grade and at the end of the following two school years. An aggregated school-level measure of norms supporting aggression was constructed from a random sample of students in each cohort and school. Family variables included adolescent reports of parental messages supporting fighting and nonviolence, and family functioning classes created through a latent profile analysis of adolescent and parent reports of family cohesion, family problem-solving, parental involvement, and positive parenting. Aggression was assessed by a composite of ratings from parents, teachers, and adolescents. Longitudinal analyses indicated that delinquent peer associations and witnessing violence were each related to changes in aggression over time. School norms supporting aggression was not significantly related to aggression. Parental messages supporting nonviolence and not supporting fighting, and good family functioning at the start of the sixth grade were each related to lower subsequent levels of aggression. Few protective effects of family processes were found. High family functioning reduced the risk associated with delinquent peer associations. Lower levels of parental support for fighting buffered the risk associated with witnessing violence, but not at higher levels of witnessing violence. Thus, whereas a foundation of positive parental messages and good family functioning was associated with lower aggression overall, these family factors generally did not serve to protect adolescents that experienced higher levels of risk. These findings suggest a need for further study of protective factors for adolescents in the face of peer, school, and community risk.

<p>This study, located within the systems theory framework, recognises that resilience is multidimensional and multi determined and can be understood as the product of connections with, and between multiple systemic levels over time, and further understands that risks factors are seen as influences that occur at the individual, family, community and societal level. The quantitative study used a secondary analysis survey of data and utilised a sample of 281 students from UWC - 90 male and 190 female. In drawing from the literature the study examined the relationship between gender, Socioeconomic status (SES) and exposure to violence and resilience. Results of the factorial MANOVA indicate a statistically significant association between low SES and exposure to violence (p &lt / 0.05 = 0.036). There were no statistically significant results for the associations between gender and exposure to violence and resilience, as well as the association between SES and resilience. These results were contrary to what was predicted. The results of the present study suggest that in the South African context, both males and females have managed to find ways of coping when faced with adversity as well as being able to draw from their protective influences. It is also possible that the selected variables (gender and SES) may only be significant in relation to other variables. The limitations of the study were also discussed, and recommendations for future research were put forward.</p>

<p>This study, located within the systems theory framework, recognises that resilience is multidimensional and multi determined and can be understood as the product of connections with, and between multiple systemic levels over time, and further understands that risks factors are seen as influences that occur at the individual, family, community and societal level. The quantitative study used a secondary analysis survey of data and utilised a sample of 281 students from UWC - 90 male and 190 female. In drawing from the literature the study examined the relationship between gender, Socioeconomic status (SES) and exposure to violence and resilience. Results of the factorial MANOVA indicate a statistically significant association between low SES and exposure to violence (p &lt / 0.05 = 0.036). There were no statistically significant results for the associations between gender and exposure to violence and resilience, as well as the association between SES and resilience. These results were contrary to what was predicted. The results of the present study suggest that in the South African context, both males and females have managed to find ways of coping when faced with adversity as well as being able to draw from their protective influences. It is also possible that the selected variables (gender and SES) may only be significant in relation to other variables. The limitations of the study were also discussed, and recommendations for future research were put forward.</p>

Magister Psychologiae - MPsych / This study, located within the systems theory framework, recognises that resilience is multidimensional and multi determined and can be understood as the product of connections with, and between multiple systemic levels over time, and further understands that risks factors are seen as influences that occur at the individual, family, community and societal level. The quantitative study used a secondary analysis survey of data and utilised a sample of 281 students from UWC - 90 male and 190 female. In drawing from the literature the study examined the relationship between gender, Socioeconomic status (SES) and exposure to violence and resilience. Results of the factorial MANOVA indicate a statistically significant association between low SES and exposure to violence (p &lt;0.05 = 0.036). There were no statistically significant results for the associations between gender and exposure to violence and resilience, as well as the association between SES and resilience. These results were contrary to what was predicted. The results of the present study suggest that in the South African context, both males and females have managed to find ways of coping when faced with adversity as well as being able to draw from their protective influences. It is also possible that the selected variables (gender and SES) may only be significant in relation to other variables. The limitations of the study were also discussed, and recommendations for future research were put forward. / South Africa