K Sheehan1, J A DiCara, S LeBailly, K K Christoffel. 1. Division of General Academic Pediatrics, Children's Memorial Hospital, Northwestern Unviersity Medical School, Chicago, Ill, USA.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To assess the exposure to violence of a representative sample of children living in an inner-city public housing development. DESIGN: Self-report survey. SETTING: Chicago public housing development that covers 4 census tracts; population, 95% African American, 75% below the poverty level. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred forty-six African American youth, aged 7 through 13 years, completed the survey; 53% were male, mean and median ages, 11 years. Seventy-two children (case subjects) are involved in a community-based health and recreation program. They completed the survey prior to participating in a peer-mentoring violence prevention curriculum. The other 74 children (control subjects) were recruited by a community member going door to door. Control subjects were matched to case subjects for age, sex, and census tract. RESULTS: The case and control subjects were similar in their exposure to violence and so were grouped for analysis. Of the 146 children, 42% had seen someone shot and 37% had seen someone stabbed; 21% lived with someone who had been shot and 16% lived with someone who had been stabbed. Forty-seven percent of the girls and 55% of the boys had witnessed violence (P > .25). Almost all subjects (90%) felt safe at home. Two thirds (65%) of the children were not afraid to play outside, but almost half (43%) worried about getting hurt at school. CONCLUSIONS: These data, which describe a representative sample of children from an inner-city housing project, confirm the results from older clinic- and school-based convenience samples. In this low-income community, children are frequently exposed to deadly violence. In contrast with other reports, girls here are not spared.
OBJECTIVE: To assess the exposure to violence of a representative sample of children living in an inner-city public housing development. DESIGN: Self-report survey. SETTING: Chicago public housing development that covers 4 census tracts; population, 95% African American, 75% below the poverty level. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred forty-six African American youth, aged 7 through 13 years, completed the survey; 53% were male, mean and median ages, 11 years. Seventy-two children (case subjects) are involved in a community-based health and recreation program. They completed the survey prior to participating in a peer-mentoring violence prevention curriculum. The other 74 children (control subjects) were recruited by a community member going door to door. Control subjects were matched to case subjects for age, sex, and census tract. RESULTS: The case and control subjects were similar in their exposure to violence and so were grouped for analysis. Of the 146 children, 42% had seen someone shot and 37% had seen someone stabbed; 21% lived with someone who had been shot and 16% lived with someone who had been stabbed. Forty-seven percent of the girls and 55% of the boys had witnessed violence (P > .25). Almost all subjects (90%) felt safe at home. Two thirds (65%) of the children were not afraid to play outside, but almost half (43%) worried about getting hurt at school. CONCLUSIONS: These data, which describe a representative sample of children from an inner-city housing project, confirm the results from older clinic- and school-based convenience samples. In this low-income community, children are frequently exposed to deadly violence. In contrast with other reports, girls here are not spared.
Authors: Rosalind J Wright; Herman Mitchell; Cynthia M Visness; Sheldon Cohen; James Stout; Richard Evans; Diane R Gold Journal: Am J Public Health Date: 2004-04 Impact factor: 9.308