Hope and Child Well-Being in the context of Community Violence

1. Hope and Child Well-Being in the context of Community Violence S. Isaacs S. Savahl Department of Psychology University of the Western Cape Cape Town South Africa

2. Genesis and conceptualisation • 2001 – in response to the need for more accurate and relevant data on the state and well-being of South Africa’s children and the absence of effective measuring and monitoring initiatives – key child rights researchers embarked on a range of evidence based initiatives • Institute for Child and Family Development (UWC) supported by UNICEF, British Council and the National Development Agency, embarked on project developing indicators of well-being using child participation methodology • Project was conducted in two provinces and included 400 child participants between the ages of 9 – 17 • Data collection followed a sustained contact model and incorporated a skills development component, over a 6 month period

3. Key Emerging Themes • 1. Participants unanimously regarded personal safety and security as the most significant indicator of well-being • 2. Hope emerged as the pervasive theme in discursive activity of participants and was regarded as an important determinant of well-being

4. What have we got to look forward to? If we finish Matric, get pregnant, get hooked on drugs…might as well start now… (Urban Group 1) How do we escape this… every day gang fights, drinking, drugs, this is our life, that’s all there is for us… there’s no hope for us… (Urban Group 7) yes, you kind of inside you in this little umm like a box in this thing and there’s no way out because you the only one in the box and that’s how we feel when you constantly have to face these things that we can’t do anything about and you the only one there at the moment… (Urban Group 3)

6. The context of violence in South Africa • Child’s life-world in many of our communities is characterised by violence • While violence no longer has a socio-political manifestation, it undoubtedly has a socio-political genesis with interpersonal, community, domestic manifestations to a large extent informed by Apartheid and colonial policies. • Key drivers of violence are social inequality, poverty, unemployment, patriarchal constructions of masculinity, substance abuse, intergenerational cycling of violence (Seedat et al, 2009)

9. Crime and violence against children in South Africa: Key facts and figures

10. Hope and Well-being in the context of community violence: A qualitative explorationSerena Isaacs, Shazly Savahl

11. Defining “Hope” • Hope • a “cognitive set involving the beliefs in one’s capabilities to produce workable routes to goals (the pathways component) as well as the self-related beliefs about initiating and sustaining movement towards these goals (the agency component)” (Snyder et al., 1997, p. 401) • Hope is centred in the cognitive • Emotions are seen as a consequence of cognitive processes regarding goals

12. Hope: Key literature Gilman, Dooley and Florell (2006): • The relationship among adolescent students’ level of hope and various academic and psychological indicators of school adjustment was investigated in a quantitative study • Low levels of hope: • irregular school attendance, • behaviour • dropping out of school • academic achievement Edwards et al. (2007) • validated the children’s hope scale. • Hope correlated positively: • positive affect, life satisfaction, • Family/friend support and optimism.

13. Aims and Objectives Aim The aim of the research study was to ascertain adolescents’ perception of community violence exposure and the extent to which those perceptions influence their sense of hope Specific Objectives • To ascertain how adolescents understand and give meaning to community violence. • To determine the way in which adolescents understand and give meaning to hope within the context of community violence.

14. Method • Participants • Purposively selected based on specific criteria • 14-15 years of age • Lived in a high violence area (selected on the basis of police statistics) • Selected from a high school within the area • 6 males and 8 females (14 participants) • Procedures • Data Collection • 2 focus groups (3 males/4 females) • Conducted in both English and Afrikaans • Data analysis • Analysed by thematic analysis as Braun and Clarke (2006) • Ethical Considerations • Voluntary participation: all participants and parents given information letter • Signed consent/assent forms • Confidentiality ensured

15. The meaning of hope within a context of community violence: From faith to the future • Hope is “wishing,”“your values,” “self-esteem.” • Linked hope to the future & motivation • Hope is strongly connected to religion and faith • Offer solace during challenging times • Gives one patienceand endurance • Hopelessness, even in the face of adversity, served no purpose • “Something one would like to have happen” • “It motivates you ja...passed the negative side.” “You’re used to it already so if I get robbed you don’t worry anymore because you know tomorrow the same thing is going to happen

16. FR: I see myself overseas. MR: I see myself studying • Hopelessness, was connected to people who commit crimes and even suicide • Participants all had a visionfor their future – knew their interest in their prospective careers • Violence in their community seemed to inspire them to do better FR: Beauty therapist MR: Civil engineering MR: IT • “It gives you, not more power, but it motivates you. It gives you more motivation.”

17. Limitations of study • Age group of participants • Definition of hope needs to be explored/expanded further

18. Implications for child well-being • They have a socialised understanding of violence, it’s causation, perpetuation and consequences. • Violence removes adolescents’ sense of power and control – attempt to regain it by perpetuating violent acts • A strong connection was made between hope and faith/religion • Adolescents also connected hope to the future and had a vision for themselves in the future • Fostering a sense of hope in adolescents very important • Adolescents indicated both directly and indirectly that their exposure to violence did not negatively affect their vision of the future or their perceived sense of hope

19. An investigation into the influence of hope on the relationship between exposure to community violence and children and adolescents’ perceptions of well-beingShazly Savahl, Serena Isaacs, Candice Rule, Rose September and Sabirah Adams

20. Effects of exposure to violence on children is well researched • Our focus is on exposure to community violence, with the literature suggesting the following: • Internalising problems: PTSD, fear and anxiety, depression, low self-esteem • Externalising problems: violent and aggressive behaviour, sleep disturbance, anti-social behaviour, poor academic functioning, substance use

21. Protective and risk factors similarly well researched:

22. Research question • Is exposure to violence a predictor of child well-being • To what extent does the construct of ‘hope’ moderate or mediate that relationship

23. Mediator variable • A 3rd variable acts as a mediator when it transforms the predictor or input variable in some way. The 3rd variable is the mechanism through which the predictor variable affects the output variable Hope (Mediator) ECV (Predictor) Well-Being (Output)

24. Moderator Variable • A 3rd variable acts a moderator when it affects the direction or strength of the relationship between the predictor and output variable. It is also referred to as the buffering variable Hope (Moderator) ECV (Predictor) Well-Being (Output)

25. Method • Design: Pearson Product Term Regression • Sample: 568 adolescents 14-15 yrs • 348 females and 218 males • Selected from 6 Schools (stratified random sampling) in the EMDC South • Instrumentation: • Kidscreen 52: Child Well-Being Scale (52 items) • Recent Exposure to Violence Scale (22 items) • Child Hope Scale (6 items)

26. Results • Linear regression to determine if ECV significant predictor of well-being • Result: Negative moderate but significant relationship between ECV and child well-being. Increased ECV predicts a decreased level of well-being

27. Results • Pearson Product Term Regression to determine if Hope mediates or moderates the relationship • Results: • Hope did not significantly mediate the relationship • Hope significantly moderated the relationship

28. Implications • Confirms the influence of hope as protective or resilience factor • Hope should be seriously considered in prevention and intervention strategies • Sense that hope could disrupt intergenerational cycling of violence • Hope is unfortunately a volatile construct and persistent negative engagements could erode any positive influence • Speculation that hope interacts with other protective factors • Multi-systemic therapeutic intervention models

29. Directions for future research • Standardise Hope Scale for South African context • Standardise Exposure to Violence Scale for South African Context • Explore the nature of the pathways between these and other variables using SEM (Partial Least Squares)