Childhood Violence: Risks, Consequences, and Prevention Strategies

Dear Colleagues,

Exposure to violence in childhood is a global public health crisis of epic proportions. Violence against children refers to any act, or series of acts, of commission or omission experienced as a victim or witness, including, but not limited to, physical, emotional, psychological, and sexual abuse, exploitation, neglect, or bullying that takes place in the home, institutional, or community setting.

Violence exposure in childhood frequently co-occurs with other forms of adversity and trauma—including living in environments shaped by interlocking systems of oppression with less access to the social and structural determinants of health.  Children targeted for or exposed to violence have a greater risk for the involvement of systems (e.g., child protective services, foster care, youth detention). They are also at greater risk for injury caused by violence (e.g., brain injury), health problems across the life course (e.g., infectious and chronic diseases, reproductive issues, mental health disorders and substance misuse), and social problems (e.g., homelessness, possible use of violence).

Childhood violence can be prevented. Because of the conditions in which childhood violence is more likely to occur, a socio-ecological framework that addresses the interplay between child, perpetrator, and environmental characteristics, across multi-level relational, structural and temporal contexts, and grounded in equity and justice, is particularly useful for understanding the complex dimensions of child victimization and for developing sensitive and effective prevention strategies.

This Special Issue is devoted to publishing valuable research on the causes and consequences of childhood violence, and on identification and effective prevention of childhood violence guided by health equity and justice frameworks.

Dr. Gia Barboza-Salerno
Guest Editor

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• childhood violence
• child abuse
• violence exposure
• adverse childhood experiences
• violence prevention
• health equity
• health justice