Study: Political violence exposure and youth aggression in the context of the social ecological systems and family stress models: A four-wave prospective study of Israeli and Palestinian youth (DOI: 10.1177/01650254251377760)
Families exposed to war and political violence are more likely to behave aggressively toward each other, impacting all areas of children's lives even after the immediate threat of armed conflict has passed, new University of Michigan research shows.
The trauma alters family interactions and dynamics, creating harsh, aggressive interactions that transmit injury across the entire household system, says researcher Paul Boxer of U-M's Institute for Social Research.
"Exposure to conflict operates as a source of real persistent stress and increases aggressiveness between parents, like hitting, yelling and other forms of combat-in turn, increasing their use of harsh forms of discipline with their children and ultimately the child's tendencies to behave aggressively," he said.
Tracking over 1,000 Israeli and Palestinian youth aged 8, 11 and 14, from 2007 to 2015, the study may provide the first full cross-cultural test of how the macro-level stress of political conflict cascades through the household system to shape child development.
The research, published in the International Journal of Behavioral Development, is supported by a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
"We had long been interested in how experiences with violence impact children and families, but did not have the chance to study this issue under conditions of persistent and intense violence," Boxer said. "In 2005, the NICHD offered a special call for proposals to examine the impact of violence exposure on children and we put together this project in response."
The data shows that political violence doesn't stop at the borders of a battlefield-it enters homes. Researchers say that even years after the immediate threat has passed, its psychological and relational impacts can echo throughout families, influencing how parents relate to one another and to their children.
The study's findings come at a time when global conflict is at record levels. In the last year alone, more than 200,000 people were killed in armed conflicts and 1 in 8 people worldwide lived within 5 kilometers of political violence.
During the decade covered by the research, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict resulted in the deaths of nearly 5,500 people, with 21% of them minors, tragically underscoring the devastating human toll of protracted conflict.
"Based on the data we have, it has been surprising to see how interethnic-political violence really does impact all areas of a child's life," Boxer said. "This new paper further shows, interestingly, that family interactions impacted by the strain of issues such as food insecurity and parental joblessness can also be challenged by encounters with war violence."
Although the study period ended nearly a decade before the current Israel-Gaza war, its implications are urgent. Boxer and colleagues say that the current escalation of violence will likely intensify the family-level stress processes documented in their data.
Their findings underscore the need for multilevel interventions that address both macro-level drivers of political violence and micro-level family processes that perpetuate harm.
Programs that strengthen parental mental health, reduce family aggression and promote nonviolent conflict resolution may help break the intergenerational transmission of trauma and aggression in war-affected communities, Boxer said.
"Our findings provide clear rationale for ensuring that such programming includes activities and approaches that target spousal relationships and parenting practices to the extent possible, engaging whole families in services and not just children," he said. "I hope our results humanize the impact of war on families that, by and large, are innocent bystanders in conflict zones."
