Developmental and Social-Ecological Perspectives on Children, Political Violence, and Armed Conflict

An increasing number of researchers and policymakers have been moved to study and intervene in the lives of children affected by violent conflicts (Masten, 2014). According to a United Nations Children's Fund (2009) report, over 1 billion children under the age of 18 are growing up in regions where acts of political violence and armed conflict are, as Ladds and Cairns (1996, p. 15) put it, “a common occurrence—a fact of life.” In recent years, the United Nations Children's Fund, advocacy and human rights groups, journalists, and researchers have drawn public attention to the high rates of child casualties in these regions, and to the plights of those children still caught in the crossfire. It has thus become clear that both the challenges and the stakes are higher than ever to promote the safety and well-being of affected children around the world (Masten &amp; Narayan, 2012; Tol, Jordans, Kohrt, Betancourt, &amp; Komproe, 2012).</jats:p

Emotional Insecurity about the Community: A Dynamic, Within-Person Mediator of Child Adjustment in Contexts of Political Violence

AbstractOver 1 billion children worldwide are exposed to political violence and armed conflict. The current conclusions are qualified by limited longitudinal research testing sophisticated process-oriented explanatory models for child adjustment outcomes. In this study, consistent with a developmental psychopathology perspective emphasizing the value of process-oriented longitudinal study of child adjustment in developmental and social–ecological contexts, we tested emotional insecurity about the community as a dynamic, within-person mediating process for relations between sectarian community violence and child adjustment. Specifically, this study explored children's emotional insecurity at a person-oriented level of analysis assessed over 5 consecutive years, with child gender examined as a moderator of indirect effects between sectarian community violence and child adjustment. In the context of a five-wave longitudinal research design, participants included 928 mother–child dyads in Belfast (453 boys, 475 girls) drawn from socially deprived, ethnically homogenous areas that had experienced political violence. Youth ranged in age from 10 to 20 years and were 13.24 (SD= 1.83) years old on average at the initial time point. Greater insecurity about the community measured over multiple time points mediated relations between sectarian community violence and youth's total adjustment problems. The pathway from sectarian community violence to emotional insecurity about the community was moderated by child gender, with relations to emotional insecurity about the community stronger for girls than for boys. The results suggest that ameliorating children's insecurity about community in contexts of political violence is an important goal toward improving adolescents' well-being and adjustment. These results are discussed in terms of their translational research implications, consistent with a developmental psychopathology model for the interface between basic and intervention research.</jats:p

Who is building peace? A latent class analysis of youth peacebuilders in a conflict‐affected setting

AbstractRebuilding society in the wake of conflict often falls on the generation born in peace. Yet, youth contributions to peacebuilding are often overlooked. This article challenges the narrative that sidelines the constructive contributions of young people in conflict‐affected settings. Instead, we identify different kinds of youth peacebuilders. Using a person‐centered approach, we conduct a latent class analysis of 590 adolescents (Mage = 16.8, SDage = 2.0, years old), evenly split by sex (51% female) and representing both communities, or conflict‐related identity groups, in Northern Ireland (38% Catholic, 62% Protestant). Across 10 indicators capturing different types and targets of prosocial action, the best fit to the data was a four‐class model: Peace in Name Only (36%), Peace at Home (33%), Peace Within Community (13%), and Future Peacebuilder (16%). Class membership varied based on youth's prior exposure to intergroup threat, or sectarian antisocial behavior. Prior exposure was related to a higher probability of being in the Peace at Home or Future Peacebuilder, compared to the Peace in Name Only class. The importance of recognizing the different kinds of youth peacebuilders in a conflict‐affected society is discussed, along with implications for global policy.</jats:p

Age as a Dynamic Moderator of Relations between Exposure to Political Conflict and Mental Health in Belfast, Northern Ireland

Identifying how, when, and under what conditions exposure to political conflict is associated with youth mental health problems is critical to developing programming to help youth exposed to various forms of political violence. The current study uses Time Varying Effects Modeling (TVEM) to examine how relations between exposure to ethno-politically motivated antisocial behavior and mental health problems change as a function of age in a sample of youth from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Young people (N = 583, M(age) 16.51 wave 1, 17.23 wave 2) self-reported their exposure to sectarian antisocial behavior, nonsectarian antisocial behavior, and mental health problems as part of a longitudinal study of youth across multiple neighborhoods in Belfast. The results suggest mental health problems and associations with exposure to sectarian antisocial behavior change in nonlinear patterns throughout adolescence, with the strongest links between exposure to political conflict and mental health between ages 16 and 19. Significant relations between nonsectarian antisocial behavior and mental health problems were not indicated for the full sample but the results suggested a relation emerged in later adolescence for Protestant youth, the historical majority group. The value of this exploratory approach to examining relations between key context and psychological variables for youth in contexts of political tension and violence is discussed

Adolescents&apos; Relationship With God and Internalizing Adjustment Over Time: The Moderating Role of Maternal Religious Coping

A growing literature supports the importance of understanding the link between religiosity and youths&apos; adjustment and development, but in the absence of rigorous, longitudinal designs, questions remain about the direction of effect and the role of family factors. This paper investigates the bidirectional association between adolescents&apos; relationship with God and their internalizing adjustment. Results from 2-wave, SEM cross-lag analyses of data from 667 mother/adolescent dyads in Belfast, Northern Ireland (50% male, M age ϭ 15.75 years old) supports a risk model suggesting that greater internalizing problems predict a weaker relationship with God 1 year later. Significant moderation analyses suggest that a stronger relationship with God predicted fewer depression and anxiety symptoms for youth whose mothers used more religious coping