Mitigating Psychological Effects of War on Children

Introduction Studies on the effects of war on children, from World War II to the present, have presented different paradigms and have yielded mixed results. Some researchers reported non-significant differences between children exposed to different degrees of violence, suggesting "adaptation" or "habituation" (e.g. Bodman, 1941; Jensen & Shaw, 1993; Nashef, 1992; Ziv & Israeli, 1973), that is, the strength of children's anxiety and other psychological responses decreased with repeated exposure to war stimuli. Others focused on the parent-child relationship, pointing to the detrimental absence of a caring parent to act as a buffer against trauma (e.g. Despert, 1942; Freud & Burlingham, 1943; Lowenfeld's work in Urwin & Hood-Williams, 1988). Yet other researchers suggested that developmental tasks are interrupted by war, which negatively affects how children view themselves, others, and society (e.g. González-Cantón, 1989; Martín-Baró, 1990; and Tortorici-Picado, 1988; as well as Arroyo & Eth, 1985, in their study of Salvadoran refugees in the United States). As Gary Ladd and Ed Cairns stated in their 1996 review for a special section on children and political violence in Child Development, "Unfortunately, the research literature on... political violence is at a very early stage, and much remains to be learned about how this type of violence affects children and their development" (p. 15).