more likely to ‘‘attempt’’ suicide. Between 8 percent
and 9 percent of all youths have attempted suicide.
Clinical and epidemiological comparisons be-
tween youth suicide and homicide show that their
rates tend to be similar, although homicide rates are
higher. The fact that the rates are parallel over time
suggests that they respond to similar social pressures,
such as economic changes.
Child Abuse/Domestic Violence
Younger children are more likely to be victims of
violence by family members. Between 1980 and 1997,
most murdered children under age six were killed by
a family member, whereas most adolescents were
killed by an acquaintance or stranger. Differing defi-
nitions of child abuse and domestic violence among
states and across settings (e.g., legal, medical) make
it difficult to determine prevalence precisely. In 1993,
nearly 3 million children were maltreated or endan-
gered in the United States; of these, 43 percent were
abused. From 1987 to 1996, the number of reported
cases of abuse doubled. It is estimated that more than
10 million U.S. children are exposed to marital vio-
lence each year.
An Ecological Framework for
Understanding Violence
To understand the effects of violence on child de-
velopment, an ecological framework is useful. Vio-
lence is seen as embedded in layers of the child’s
ecological world. For instance, intrafamilial violence
(child maltreatment and domestic violence) occurs in
the child’s immediate environment. Community (and
school) violence occurs where the child and family in-
teract with the social systems of the outside world.
Media and societal violence occur in the larger social
context. An ecological framework also aids in under-
standing what protects against and what raises the
risk for poor outcome of children exposed to violence
by considering the role of child, parents, and peers,
and family and community resources.
The Effects of Violence on Children
Some children are exposed to a single severe vio-
lent event, such as being caught in sniper fire while
leaving school. The negative impact of such exposure
is well documented, with these children demonstrat-
ing traumatic effects such as reexperiencing and
avoiding the trauma, and overreactivity.
Many children, though, are affected by chronic,
pervasive forms of violence (e.g., witnessing drug
deals, hearing gunfire, fighting) that occurs in multi-
ple areas of their lives (e.g., home, neighborhood,
Violence can be introduced into children’s lives through many
channels, including media elements like video games that feature
realistic weaponry and high ‘‘body counts.’’ (Anthony
Snyder/Corbis)school). They may experience such violence directly
as victims, as witnesses or by knowing someone who
has been victimized. Some researchers have proposed
the concept of multiple risk, suggesting that as chil-
dren are exposed to an increasing number of risk fac-
tors (including violence in multiple spheres), their
likelihood for suffering poor outcomes increases dis-
proportionately. In these children, although they
may suffer symptoms of trauma seen in children ex-
posed to single violent events, it is more likely that
broader declines in functioning are evident, includ-
ing increased depression and anxiety, increased ag-
gressive and antisocial behavior, decreased social
competence, increased delinquency, moral disen-
gagement, as well as decreased academic perfor-
mance.It has been widely observed that not all children
exposed to violence—even severe, pervasive, and
chronic violence—show poor outcomes. At the begin-
ning of the twenty-first century, research was begin-
ning to identify the factors that influence the path
from violence exposure to outcome and was consider-
ing the role of a wide range of contextual influences.VIOLENCE 427