This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on ISI (3)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Psychiatry  • Substance Abuse/ Alcoholism  • Violence and Human Rights  • Alert me on articles by topic

Maureen E. Schuler, PhD; Prasanna Nair, MD, MPH

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2001;155:342-346.

Objectives  To determine if children of substance-abusing mothers witness more violence than children of non–substance-abusing (control) mothers, and to determine if children who witness violence have more behavioral problems and higher stress scores than children who do not witness violence.

Design  Cross-sectional research design comparing exposure to violence among children of substance-abusing mothers and control mothers of low socioeconomic status.

Setting  An inner-city pediatric clinic.

Participants  Forty substance-abusing mothers and their children, and 40 non–substance-abusing mothers and their children, examined when the children were 6 years old.

Main Outcome Measures  Maternal report of children's exposure to violence was assessed using the Exposure to Violence Interview and the Conflict Tactics Scale. Maternal report of children's behavior was assessed using the Child Behavior Checklist and the Children's Response to Stress Inventory.

Results  Children of substance-abusing mothers did not witness more violence than the control children (P>.05). However, 6-year-old inner-city children in the present study witnessed a high rate of violence: 43% had seen someone beaten up, 13% had seen someone threatened with a knife, and 7% had seen someone stabbed or shot. Children witnessing violence had significantly higher aggressive, delinquent, anxious/depressed, withdrawn, attention, and social problems (P<.05) on the Child Behavior Checklist, and higher stress scores (P = .05) on the Children's Response to Stress Inventory.

Conclusions  More than half of the 6-year-old inner-city children in the present study witnessed some form of violence. Witnessing violence was associated with more behavioral problems and higher stress scores as assessed through maternal report. Subsequent research should examine the long-term effects of this exposure to violence among young children.

From the Department of Pediatrics, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore.

Corresponding author and reprints: Maureen E. Schuler, PhD, Department of Pediatrics, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 655 W Lombard St, Suite 311, Baltimore, MD 21201-1091 (e-mail: mschuler{at}peds.umaryland.edu).