Abstract

Community violence is currently recognized as a major public health problem, becoming a central issue in the study of environmental influences on child and adolescent development. The aim of the current review is to provide an overview of recent researches in this area. The review focuses on: the main maladaptive effects of exposure to community violence, such as externalizing and internalizing problems or post-traumatic symptoms; the differential effects in function of the status of victim or witness; the specific outcomes linked to the process of «pathologic adaptation» to violence; the risk and protective factors which are implicated.