Health Effects of Violence Exposure Among Children Living in Urban Environments

Harvard University (Sch Of Public Hlth), Boston MA

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The funding requested in the current proposal will support interdisciplinary training in exposure assessment for both physical factors and social characteristics that affect neurocognitive and neurobehavioral development, a major focus of pediatric environmental health. Traditionally, research has examined social environmental factors separately from physical environmental factors, potentially missing important interactions between the two . The goal of this research is to examine such interactions using the stress-health paradigm as the framework and focusing on community violence as a specific chronic life stressor. The effects of exposure to community violence on children will be assessed in conjunction with other physical exposures of the environment such as lead and in utero and environmental tobacco smoke exposure. The proposed research involves secondary data analysis conducted withing the Maternal-Infant Smoking Study of East Boston (MISSEB) Cohort (RJ Wright, PI) and will incorporate both social and environmental frameworks.