An Exploration into the Impact of Exposure to Community Violence and Hope on Children’s Perceptions of Well-Being: A South African Perspective

Savahl, Shazly; Isaacs, Serena Ann; Adams, Sabirah; Carels, Cassandra Zeta; September, Rose

doi:10.1007/s12187-013-9183-9

Cited by 28 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…A particular line of research in the area of children's SWB well‐being has been on the correlates of, and factors that influence SWB. Researchers, for example, have identified a range of individual‐, micro‐, and macrolevel factors such as community violence, social support, peer pressure, social and environmental context, gender, and age that has influenced children's subjective perceptions and evaluations of their lives (see Adams, Savahl, & Casas, ; González‐Carrasco, Casas, Malo, Vinas, & Dinisman, ; Savahl, Isaacs, Adams, Carels, & September, ). Particular interest has been afforded to the social and relational aspects related to children's SWB, which has been identified in a range of studies as a critical domain of children's SWB (see Adams & Savahl, ; Goswami, ; Savahl et al., ).…”

Section: Aim Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Children's Experiences of Bullying Victimization and the Influence on Their Subjective Well‐Being: A Multinational Comparison

et al. 2018

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The study used data from the second wave of the Children's Worlds Survey to explore the relation between children's experiences of bullying victimization (physical and psychological) and their subjective well-being (SWB) across three age groups (8, 10, and 12) and 15 global geographical regions. The sample consists of 47,029 children randomly selected from 15 countries. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling and multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. The results show appropriate fit structure for the overall model, and that the combined influence of physical and psychological bullying made a significant contribution to SWB across age groups and geographical regions. The findings are interpreted using Cummins's (1995) Homeostasis Theory of SWB.

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Section: Aim Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Children's Experiences of Bullying Victimization and the Influence on Their Subjective Well‐Being: A Multinational Comparison

et al. 2018

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“…Some studies have analyzed different components of quality of life (e.g., physical, psychological or social), finding that children obtained higher scores than adolescents in the overall score, male adolescents usually scored higher than girls in every component and that participants coming from slums scored lower than those who came from another types of neighbourhoods [ 54 , 55 ]. Congruently with these findings, hope and exposure to community violence have been found as statistically significant predictors of urban adolescents’ well-being [ 56 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Mental Health, Quality of Life and Violence Exposure in Low-Socioeconomic Status Children and Adolescents of Guatemala

Company-Córdoba

Gómez-Baya

López‐Gaviño

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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Growing up in vulnerable conditions has an impact on children and adolescents’ mental health and well-being outcomes. However, this evidence has rarely been obtained in middle and low-income countries like Guatemala, where food insecurity and exposure to violence frequently threaten childhood development. The aim of this study was to analyse the relations that sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors have with psychological adjustment of low-socioeconomic status (SES) Guatemalan children and adolescents, and how these relations were mediated by food insecurity and exposure to violence. A total of 185 participants (50.8% girls; aged between 6 to 17, M = 11.82, SD = 3.7) from three vulnerable schools located in rural and urban areas of Guatemala were assessed. The results indicated that exposure to violence significantly moderates the effect of sociodemographic and socioeconomic variables in measures of depression, anxiety and health-related quality of life. Adolescents more exposed to violence reported higher levels of depression and anxiety, as well as lower levels of health-related quality of life. In contrast, food insecurity did not seem to influence psychological adjustment outcomes in this low-SES sample. These findings highlight the relevance of exposure to violence for mental health and well-being, and is a factor that should be considered when designing public health policies to promote children and adolescents’ welfare.

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“…The logical conclusion is that increasing children's access to material resources and reducing the effects of poverty would lead to increases in their SWB, at least until a certain level. While this may be a plausible course of action in certain contexts, in developing economies such as Africa, it is more likely that a combination of fore-grounding psychological strengths such as hope (Savahl, Isaacs, Adams, Carels, & September, 2013), decreasing material deprivation through appropriate government expenditure, and the advancement of policy initiatives aimed at improving children's position in society, would contribute to an increase in children's SWB. The current study con-tributes by validating measures to assess SWB with in-country samples of children, and to effect meaningful comparisons across the three countries.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children's subjective well-being in Africa: A comparative analysis across three countries

Savahl

Tiliouine

Casas

et al. 2017

Children and Youth Services Review

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Recent trends in child well-being research have shown a substantial advancement in studies investigating children's subjective well-being (SWB). This advancement has raised questions concerning the measurement of SWB and the extent to which various measures can be compared across countries and diverse cultures. With a dearth of empirical data on cross-cultural comparisons, the validation of existing measures and cross-cultural comparisons and adaptations, have been identified as a critical course of action. The current study contributes to this process-it aims to report on children's SWB in three African countries (Algeria, Ethiopia, and South Africa), using two multiple item measures of SWB (the context-free Students' Life Satisfaction Scale and the domain-specific Personal Well-Being Index-School Children). Within this process the study further aims to test the structural validity of these measures and to ascertain its crosscountry comparability. Data from the second wave of the Children's Worlds survey were used; and includes a randomly selected sample of 3394 children between the ages of 11-12 from Algeria (Provinces of El Bayedh, Oran, and Tlemcen), Ethiopia and South Africa (Western Cape Province). Located within the goodness of fit theoretical framework, confirmatory factor analysis and Structural Equation Modelling were used to test the overall fit structure, while multi-group confirmatory factor analysis was used to test measurement invariance. The results show appropriate fit structure for the individual models, with metric and scalar factor invariance tenable across the three countries for the Students' Life Satisfaction Scale and partial scalar invariance obtained for four items on the Personal Well-Being Index-School Children. The Algerian sample scored significantly higher than Ethiopia and South Africa on both SWB measures. Appropriate fit structure was obtained for the combined model and for the structural model, indicating adequate convergent validity with the single item Overall Life Satisfaction. Metric and partial scalar invariance was tenable for the structural model, suggesting crosscountry comparability for correlations, regressions and means. The overall findings suggest that the two measures are appropriate for use with children from the three countries and that meaningful comparisons can be made between the three countries.

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An Exploration into the Impact of Exposure to Community Violence and Hope on Children’s Perceptions of Well-Being: A South African Perspective

Cited by 28 publications

References 46 publications

Children's Experiences of Bullying Victimization and the Influence on Their Subjective Well‐Being: A Multinational Comparison

Children's Experiences of Bullying Victimization and the Influence on Their Subjective Well‐Being: A Multinational Comparison

Mental Health, Quality of Life and Violence Exposure in Low-Socioeconomic Status Children and Adolescents of Guatemala

Children's subjective well-being in Africa: A comparative analysis across three countries

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