ABSTRACT
Youth community violence exposure (CVE) is a problem of widespread proportions, although it continues to go frequently unrecognized, under-assessed, and under-addressed by professional social workers. Despite this, the startling prevalence rates of youth CVE across ethnic groups and the subsequent psychosocial outcomes for individuals, families, schools, and communities has resulted in the recognition of CVE as a significant public health problem (Carmona 2007; Koop & Lundberg, 1992; Krug, Dahlberg, Mercy, Zwi, & Lozano, 2002). For youth, the mental health outcomes can be as severe as those associated with child maltreatment, disasters, and witnessing domestic violence (Rosenthal & Wilson, 2008). In addition to CVE disproportionately affecting ethnic minorities (Attar, Guerra, & Tolan, 1994; Christofel, 1990; Jenkins & Bell, 1994), a number of risk factors on multiple levels (e.g. individual, family, school, and community) are associated with CVE and subsequent psychosocial outcomes. Although CVE is commonly believed to be a problem of poor urban neighborhoods, significant prevalence rates of CVE have been reported in rural and suburban communities as well (Jenkins & Bell, 1997). Despite the broad prevalence of the problem, social workers rarely assess CVE (Guterman & Cameron, 2003) and few have evaluated the effectiveness of clinical treatment and prevention methods.
