The rates and characteristics of the exposure of Palestinian youth to community violence.

The article presents the results of a study that explored the rates and characteristics of exposure to community violence (CV) and its relevance to several sociodemographic factors among a sample of 1,930 Palestinian youth (1,018 girls and 912 boys), aged 12 to 19 years residing in diverse residential areas in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Data were collected using a self-report questionnaire. The frequency of boys' exposure to CV during the previous 12 months was significantly higher than among girls. The frequency of witnessing CV during that period was higher than the frequency of personally experiencing CV, and exposure to mild CV incidents during that period was higher than the frequency of exposure to severe CV incidents during the same period, with no significant relationship to sociodemographic factors. Participants reported higher rates of witnessing most CV incidents outside of the neighborhood. Nonetheless, they reported higher rates of experiencing most incidents of CV inside the participants' neighborhood. The implications of the results for theory development and future research are discussed.