Prevalence of child and adolescent exposure to community violence

Abstract

Emerging as one of the most significant health issues facing American youth today, child and adolescent exposure to community violence has generated much interest across multiple disciplines. Most research to date has focused on documenting the prevalence of community violence and the emotional and behavioral ramifications. This paper provides an overview of the current literature regarding prevalence of youth exposure to community violence, and identifies those areas where further research is warranted. In addition to examining overall rates of community violence exposure, this paper reviews the prevalence of different types of community violence, such as weapon use, physical aggression, and crime-related events. Predictors of community violence exposure, including gender, age, race, socioeconomic status, behavior patterns, and geography, are discussed.