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Topic Editor: Richard E. Tremblay, PhD, Université de Montréal, Canada and University College Dublin, Ireland
Topic funded by: Bernard van Leer Foundation
Confronting and preventing the negative outcomes associated with social violence exposure requires community- and societal-level interventions designed to foster individual, family and community resilience. Considering that violence exposure increases children’s likelihood of engaging in risky behaviours as they grow older (e.g., aggression and school dropout), using multipurpose programs designed to address early risk factors is one avenue to promote children’s social, emotional and behavioural functioning. Another important factor that buffers the influence of social violence on children’s problem outcomes is caregiver well-being. Interventions offering supports to families exposed to violence are encouraged (e.g., home visits). Parents should also be provided with an adequate shelter, sufficient food, clean water and health care to support family functioning. These supportive resources are likely to diminish caregivers’ distress, in turn lowering the odds of older children perpetuating violence. Specifically, parents who have access to supportive services are in a better position to provide safe, stable and responsive care to reduce the negative consequences of violence exposure on children. In addition to buffering the negative impact of violence exposure on children, interventions aimed at improving family functioning and access to supportive services are likely to be useful in reducing the use of corporal punishment.
It is also important that government and non-government agencies (e.g., social organizations, academic and research centres) unify their efforts and act proactively in order to prevent/reduce the occurrence of social violence. As an example, the Brazilian National Council of Health State Secretaries (CONASS), in collaboration with its partners, has compiled a series of intervention strategies and policy programs to address and prevent violence. Implementing public education campaigns, promoting the training of family health program teams, and making changes to legislation to reduce violence on the roads are part of their proposals to address social violence. Lastly, policy makers should be attentive to the way current and future policies influence the causes of armed conflicts and how they may potentially maintain and reinforce exclusion of subgroups. The protection of all members of the society and equal access to resources should figure among governments’ priorities.
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