The Uninvited Guest of War Enters Childhood: Developmental and Personality Aspects of War and Military Violence

Children show great differences in their ways of appraising threat, seeking help, and expressing emotions when facing traumatic events. This chapter focuses on developmental and personality aspects of trauma responses. It is hypothesized that each developmental age provides children unique protecting resources, on one hand, and makes them vulnerable, on the other. These protecting and risk dynamics are analyzed among infants, toddlers, school-age children and adolescents. Concerning the link between personality and trauma, attachment theory and temperament research are viewed. The argument is that insecure-avoidant children are vulnerable due to their tendency to deny dangers, distrust others’ help and cope by distraction and withdrawal. Insecure-ambivalent children are at risk due to their exaggeration of danger and overactivation of negative emotions. Secure children in their part accurately perceive the trauma, trust in their own resources and others’ ability to help, and show balanced emotional, cognitive and behavioral responses. The implications for helping children to cope with war and military violence are discussed.