Community Violence Exposure and Anxiety Symptoms: Can Affect Regulation Promote Resilience Among Low Income, Urban Children?

Violence is a serious public health problem in the US (CDC, 2013). Minority youth residing in economically disadvantaged, urban neighborhoods experience elevated levels of community violence exposure (CVE), which is associated with difficulties with affect regulation and anxiety (Gaylord-Harden et al., 2011; Suveg et al., 2009). Given these associations, the relation between CVE and anxiety may be buffered or exacerbated by child affect regulation ability, but research is wanting. To address this gap, we examined the moderating effect of affect regulation on the relation between witnessing community violence and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms among low income, urban children.

Participants were 105 children (51% male; M=9.9±1.2 years old; 95% African-American; median income=$15,000) recruited from schools located in contextually disadvantaged neighborhoods. Caregivers reported on their child’s (a) GAD symptoms using the Child and Adolescent Symptom Inventory-4 (Gadow & Sprafkin, 2002), and (b) affect regulation (impulsivity and explosiveness) using the Screen for Children’s Affective Reactivity (Kolko, Baumann, Bukstein, & Brown, 2007). Children reported how often they witnessed various types of violence using the Community Experiences Questionnaire (Schwartz & Proctor, 2000).

Interactive effects of affective regulation (impulsivity and explosiveness, respectively) and CVE on GAD were examined in 2 separate hierarchical regression analyses. After controlling for age, sex, and income, impulsivity×CVE (β=0.26, p<.01) and explosiveness×CVE (β=0.39, p<.01) predicted GAD symptoms. Post-hoc probing indicated that children with higher levels of impulsivity demonstrated elevated GAD symptoms when children reported greater levels of CVE (B=4.46, p<.01). For children with lower levels of impulsivity, GAD symptoms were lower in the presence of greater levels of CVE (B=-2.97, p<.05). Similarly, for children with higher levels of explosiveness, higher CVE was associated with higher GAD symptoms (B=5.62, p<.01), but for children with lower affect levels of explosiveness, higher CVE was associated with attenuated GAD symptoms (B=-4.59, p<.01).

Among low income, urban youth, affect regulation abilities may serve a protective function in the context of CVE, such that children with better abilities may be buffered against GAD. However, children with poorer affect regulation may be at increased risk for anxiety, as they may be less able to regulate negative emotions evoked by witnessing community violence. Intervention efforts designed to improve children’s affect regulation skills, particularly for those living in communities with high rates of violence, may be beneficial in reducing and preventing the development of GAD symptoms.