Community violence exposure has profound implications for individuals’ psychological well-being, and yet, little is known about its effects on parents residing in high-risk neighborhoods. Using qualitative interviews with 20 mothers living in informal settlement areas in the Philippines, this study examined (a) the parenting strategies that mothers use in response to community violence and (b) the protective factors that enhance their well-being. Content analyses revealed that the most frequently endorsed parenting strategies were giving reprimands and advice ( pinagsasabihan at pinangangaralan) and monitoring and prohibition ( pagsubaybay at pagbabawal). To protect their well-being, the mothers most frequently mentioned relying on prayers and faith to cope and make sense of community violence. The findings highlight Filipino mothers’ use of active and resourceful parenting strategies, the constructive function of religion and faith in low-income Filipino mothers’ experiences, and mutual support among family and community members as protective factors. Implications include incorporating religion and faith in local resilience frameworks, including the family and community in interventions, and equal attention on policies aimed at fostering resilience and reducing poverty.

Background: Parenting interventions and conditional cash transfer (CCT) programmes are promising strategies to reduce the risk of violence against children, but evidence of the effectiveness of combining such programmes is lacking for families in low-and middle-income countries with children over two years of age. This study examined the effectiveness of a locally adapted parenting programme delivered as part of a government CCT system to low-income families with children aged two to six years in Metro Manila, Philippines. Methods: Participants were randomly assigned (1:1) to either a 12-session group-based parenting programme or treatment-as-usual services ( N = 120). Participation in either service was required among the conditions for receiving cash grants. Baseline assessments were conducted in July 2017 with one-month post-intervention assessments in January-February 2018 and 12-month follow-up in January-February 2019. All assessments were parent-report (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03205449). Findings: One-month post-intervention assessments indicated moderate intervention effects for primary outcomes of reduced overall child maltreatment ( d = -0.50 [-0.86, -0.13]), emotional abuse ( d = -0.59 [-0.95; -0.22]), physical abuse (IRR = 0.51 [0.27; 0.74]), and neglect (IRR = 0.52 [0.18; 0.85]). There were also significant effects for reduced dysfunctional parenting, child behaviour problems, and intimate partner violence, and increased parental efficacy and positive parenting. Reduced overall maltreatment, emotional abuse, and neglect effects were sustained at one-year follow-up. Interpretation: Findings suggest that a culturally adapted parenting intervention delivered as part of a CCT programme may be effective in sustaining reductions in violence against children in low-and middleincome countries.

This study examines (a) the degree of agreement between mother-reported child community violence exposure and children’s self-reports and whether agreement changes over time; (b) whether child gender is associated with mother-child agreement; and (c) whether greater mother-child agreement is concurrently and longitudinally associated with children’s psychological well-being. We conducted secondary data analyses using longitudinal data with a socioeconomically diverse sample of 287 Latino adolescents ( MageW2 = 11.2, 47% girls) and their mothers ( MageW1 = 35.3) from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. Mother-child agreement about nonexposure to violence was high. However, for violence-exposed children, mothers overestimated exposure in early adolescence and underestimated it in middle adolescence. Mothers had higher violence agreement scores with daughters than with sons. Greater mother-child agreement about witnessing community violence in early adolescence was associated with lower externalizing problems in early and middle adolescence. Agreement about children’s victimization was only concurrently associated with lower externalizing and internalizing behaviors in early adolescence. Developmental changes in adolescent disclosure and parental knowledge of children’s community violence may provide an important point of intervention for addressing the psychological sequelae of violence exposure in early adolescence.

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