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Testing a social ecological model for relations between political violence and child adjustment in Northern Ireland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2010

E. Mark Cummings ,
Christine E. Merrilees ,
Alice C. Schermerhorn ,
Marcie C. Goeke-Morey ,
Peter Shirlow  and
Ed Cairns
E. Mark Cummings*
Affiliation:
University of Notre Dame
Christine E. Merrilees
Affiliation:
University of Notre Dame
Alice C. Schermerhorn
Affiliation:
University of Notre Dame
Marcie C. Goeke-Morey
Affiliation:
Catholic University of America
Peter Shirlow
Affiliation:
Queens University, Belfast
Ed Cairns
Affiliation:
University of Ulster
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: E. Mark Cummings, Department of Psychology, 118 Haggar Hall, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556; E-mail: [email protected].
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Abstract

Relations between political violence and child adjustment are matters of international concern. Past research demonstrates the significance of community, family, and child psychological processes in child adjustment, supporting study of interrelations between multiple social ecological factors and child adjustment in contexts of political violence. Testing a social ecological model, 300 mothers and their children (M = 12.28 years, SD = 1.77) from Catholic and Protestant working class neighborhoods in Belfast, Northern Ireland, completed measures of community discord, family relations, and children's regulatory processes (i.e., emotional security) and outcomes. Historical political violence in neighborhoods based on objective records (i.e., politically motivated deaths) were related to family members' reports of current sectarian antisocial behavior and nonsectarian antisocial behavior. Interparental conflict and parental monitoring and children's emotional security about both the community and family contributed to explanatory pathways for relations between sectarian antisocial behavior in communities and children's adjustment problems. The discussion evaluates support for social ecological models for relations between political violence and child adjustment and its implications for understanding relations in other parts of the world.

Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , May 2010 , pp. 405 - 418
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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