Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Neighborhood Violence and Psychosocial Adjustment in Low-Income Urban African American Children: Physical Symptoms as a Marker of Child Adjustment

  • Published:
Journal of Child and Family Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We examined the association between neighborhood violence and three domains of psychosocial adjustment in low-income, urban African American children: internalizing, externalizing, and physical symptoms. Based on anecdotal and empirical evidence, it was hypothesized that, relative to internalizing and externalizing problems, a stronger association would emerge between physical symptoms and neighborhood violence. Mother-reported neighborhood violence was associated with child-reported physical symptoms, but not internalizing or externalizing symptoms. Child-reported neighborhood violence was associated with child-reported internalizing, externalizing, and physical symptoms; however, neighborhood violence accounted for a greater percentage of variance in physical symptoms than the other two symptom domains. Our findings were not moderated by the age or gender of the child. We discuss the importance of physical symptoms as a marker of child adjustment in low-income, urban, African American children, as well directions for future research.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abu-Arafeh, I., & Russell, G. (1996). Recurrent limb pain in school. Archives of Disabilities in Children, 74, 336–339.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Achenbach, T. (1991). Manual for the child behavior checklist 4-18 and 1991 Profile. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont Department of Psychiatry.

    Google Scholar 

  • Armistead, L., Forehand, R., Brody, G., & Maguen, S. (2002). Parenting and child psychosocial adjustment in single-parent African American families: Is community context important? Behavior Therapy, 33, 361–375.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barbee, E. L. (1992). African American women and depression: A review and critique of the literature. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 6, 257–265.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barbee, E. L. (1994). Healing time: The blues and African American women. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 32, 29–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell, C. C., & Jenkins, E. J. (1993). Community violence and children on Chicago’s southside. In D. Reiss, J. E. Richters, M. Radke-Yarrow, & D. Scharff (Eds.), Children and violence (pp. 46–54). New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowen, N. K., & Bowen, G. L. (1999). Effects of crime and violence in neighborhoods and schools on the school behavior and performance of adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Research, 14, 319–342.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brody, G. H., Ge, X., Kim, S., Murry, V., Simons, R. L., Gibbons, F., Gerrard, M., & Conger, R. D. (2003). Neighborhood disadvantage moderates associations of parenting and older sibling problem attitudes and behavior with conduct disorders in African American children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 71, 211–222.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bronfenbrenner, U. (1989). Ecological systems theory. In R. Vasta (Ed.), Annals of child development: Revised formulations and current issues. Grenwich, CT: JAI Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campo, J. V., & Fritsch, S. L. (1994). Somatization in children and adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 33, 1223–1235.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cooley-Quille, M., Boyd, R. C., Frantz, E., & Walsh, J. (2001). Emotional and behavioral impact of exposure to community violence in inner-city adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 30, 199–206.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Coulton, C. J., Korbin, J. E., & Su, M. (1996). Measuring neighborhood context for young children in an urban area. American Journal of Community Psychology, 24, 5–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dempsey, M. (2002). Negative coping as a mediator in relation between violence and outcomes: Inner-city African American youth. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 72, 102–109.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Egger, H. L., Costello, E. J., Erkanli, A., & Angold, A. (1999). Somatic complaints and psychopathology in children and adolescents: Stomach aches, muskuloskeletal pains, and headaches. Journal of the Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 38, 852–860.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Family Health Project Research Group (1997). A multidisciplinary longitudinal investigation of children whose mothers are HIV infected. Clinical Psychology Review, 18, 839–856.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fitzpatrick, K. (1993). Exposure to violence and presence of depression among low- income, African American youth. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 61, 528–531.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Garber, J., Walker, L. S., & Zeman, J. (1991). Somatization symptoms in a community sample of children and adolescents: Further validation of the children’s somatization inventory. Psychology Assessment, 3, 588–595.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garbarino, J. (2000). The effects of neighborhood violence on children. In L. Batter & C. Tamis- Lemonda (Eds.), Child psychology (pp. 412–425). Philadelphia: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gijsbers van Wijk, C. M. T., & Kolk, A. M. (1997). Sex differences in physical symptoms: The contribution of symptom perception theory. Social Science and Medicine, 45, 231–246.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hartz, A. J., Noyes, R., Bentler, S. E., Damiano, P. C., Willard, J. C., & Momany, E. T. (2000). Unexplained symptoms in primary care: Perspectives of doctors and patients. General Hospital Psychiatry, 22, 144–152.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Idler, E. L., & Benyami, Y. (1997). Self-rated health and mortality: A review of twenty- seven community studies. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 38, 21–37.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, D. J., Forehand, R., O’Connell, C., Armistead, L., & Brody, G. (2005). Mother’s perceptions of neighborhood violence and mother-reported monitoring of African American children: An examination of the moderating role of social support. Behavior Therapy, 36, 25–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kovacs, M. (1981). Rating scales to assess depression in school-aged children. Acta Paedopsychiatrica, 46, 305–314.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kristjansdottir, G. (1997). Prevalence of pain combinations and overall pain: A study of headache, stomach pain, and back pain among school children. Scandinavian Journal of Social Medicine, 25, 58–63.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kroenke, K., & Spitzer, R. L. (1998). Gender differences in the reporting of physical and somatoform symptoms. Psychosomatic Medicine, 60, 150–155.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kroenke, K., Spitzer, R. L., & Mangelsdorf, A. D. (1990). The prevalence of symptoms in medical outpatients and the adequacy of therapy. Archives of Internal Medicine, 150, 1685–1689.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lewinsohn, P. M., Seeley, J. R., Hibbard, J., Rohde, P., & Sack, W. H. (1996). Cross- sectional and prospective relationships between physical morbidity and depression in older adolescents. Journal of the Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 1120–1129.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Margolin, G., & Gordis, E. B. (2000). The effects of family and neighborhood violence on children. Annual Review of Psychology, 51, 445–479.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McCracken, L. M., Matthews, A. K., Tang, T. S., & Cuba, S. L. (2001). A comparison of blacks and whites seeking treatment for chronic pain. Clinical Journal of Pain, 17, 249–255.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, K. S., Forehand, R., & Kotchick, B. A. (2000). Adolescent sexual risk behavior in two ethnic minority samples: A multi-system perspective delineating targets for prevention. Adolescence, 35, 313–334.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • National Center for Health Statistics (1994). Vital and health statistics: Current Estimates from the National Health Interview Survey, 1992. Series 10, Number 189. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

  • Plybon, L., & Kliewer, W. (2001). Neighborhood types and externalizing behavior in urban school–age children: Tests of direct, mediated, and moderated effects. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 10, 419–437.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds, L. K., O’Koon, J. H., Papademetriou, E., Szczygiel, S., & Grant, K. E. (2001). Stress and somatic complaints in low income urban adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 30, 499–514.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, R. E., & Sobhan, M. (1992). Symptoms of depression in adolescence: A comparison of Anglo, African, and Hispanic Americans. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 21, 639–651.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rutter, M. (1981). The city and the child. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 51, 610–625.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Salzinger, S., Feldman, R. S., Stockhammer, T., & Hood, J. (2002). An ecological framework for understanding risk for exposure to neighborhoodviolence and the effects of exposure on children and adolescents. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 7, 423–451.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schappert, S. M. (1992). Ambulatory medical care survey: 1989 Summary. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital Health Statistics Series, 13, No. 10.

  • Schichor, A., Bernstein, B., & King, S. (1994). Self-reported depressive symptoms in inner-city adolescents seeking routine health care. Adolescence, 29, 379–388.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • South, S. J., & Crowder, K. D. (1997). Escaping distressed neighborhoods: Individual, community, and metropolitan influences. American Journal of Sociology, 102, 1040–1084.

    Google Scholar 

  • South, S. J., & Crowder, K. D. (1998). Avenues and barriers to residential mobility among single mothers. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 60, 866–877.

    Google Scholar 

  • South, S. J., Crowder, K. D., Trent, K. (1998). Children’s residential mobility and neighborhood environment following parental divorce and remarriage. Social Forces, 77, 667–693.

    Google Scholar 

  • Starfield, B., Gross, E., & Wood, M. (1980). Psychosocial and psychosomatic diagnoses in primary care children. Pediatrics, 66, 159–166.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sweeting, H. (1995). Reversals of fortune? Sex differences in health in childhood and adolescence: Social Science and Medicine, 40, 77–90.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, R. D. (1997). The effects of economic and social stressors on parenting and adolescent adjustment in African American families. In R. D. Taylor and M. C.

  • Wang (Eds.), Social and emotional adjustment and family relationships in ethnic minority families (pp. 35–52). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

  • Walker, L. S., Garber, J., & Greene, J. W. (1991). Somatization symptoms in pediatric abdominal patients: Relation of chronicity of abdominal pain and parental somatization. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 19, 379–394.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Walker, L. S., & Greene, J. W. (1989). Children with recurrent abdominal pain and their parents: More somatic complaints, anxiety, and depression than other patient families? Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 14, 231–243.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Walker, L. S., & Greene, J. W. (1991). Negative life events and symptom resolution in pediatric abdominal pain patients. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 16, 341–360.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, W. J. (1987). The truly disadvantaged: The inner-city, the underclass and public policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC

    Deborah J. Jones Ph.D. (Assistant Professor)

  2. Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC

    Sarah Foster B.A. (Graduate Student)

  3. School of Social Work, Portland State University, Portland, OR

    Greg Forehand M.S.W. (Graduate Student)

  4. Department of Psychology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV

    Cara O’Connell M.A. (Graduate Student)

  5. Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599

    Deborah J. Jones Ph.D. (Assistant Professor)

Authors
  1. Deborah J. Jones Ph.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sarah Foster B.A.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Greg Forehand M.S.W.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Cara O’Connell M.A.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Deborah J. Jones Ph.D..

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jones, D.J., Foster, S., Forehand, G. et al. Neighborhood Violence and Psychosocial Adjustment in Low-Income Urban African American Children: Physical Symptoms as a Marker of Child Adjustment. J Child Fam Stud 14, 237–249 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-005-5051-7

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-005-5051-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation