NCJ Number
175742
Journal
Academic Emergency Medicine Volume: 3 Issue: 4 Dated: April 1996 Pages: 300- 303
Date Published
1996
Length
4 pages
Annotation
The objective of this study was to determine trends in the number of drive-by shootings, individuals shot at, innocent bystanders shot at, and homicides by drive-by shootings in Los Angeles from 1989 to 1993.
Abstract
These variables included age, gender, locus of control, self-blame, perception of threat, active versus palliative coping style, maternal emotional health, and aspects of the violence witnessed (intensity, frequency, age of child when first witnessing violence, and time since the last violent episode). Following screening for other PTSD inducing experiences, a sample of 20 child witnesses to domestic violence, 15 matched control children, and their mothers were assessed with the following tools: The Straus Conflict Tactics Scale; the Child Post- Traumatic Stress Reaction Index; the Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale; the General Health Questionnaire; and a Screening Questionnaire designed to elicit qualitative information from both children and mothers, including data about any other potential PTSD inducing stressor to which the subject child may have been exposed. None of the factors under examination were found to contribute significantly to the severity levels of PTSD in relation to witness status. The small sample size requires that the results be interpreted with caution; nevertheless, the findings show that the impact of witnessing domestic violence, in terms of PTSD, is not mediated by factors such as maternal emotional well-being, age and gender of the child, or the child's style of coping with parental conflict. Evidence that variables specifically related to the violence witnessed did not mediate the impact suggests that all domestic violence may have severe and long-term impact on child witnesses