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Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry
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Exposure to Political Violence and Psychological Well-being in Bosnian Adolescents: A Mixed Method Approach

Lynne Jones

Cambridge University, UK, myfanwym{at}hotmail.com

Konstantinos Kafetsios

Anglia Polytechnic University, Cambridge, UK

Previous research on political violence has shown an inverse relationship between overall exposure and psychological well-being. The aim of this study was to examine this relationship in more detail by exploring the impact of specific types of war-related events upon psychological well-being, as well as the role of social and political context in moderating these outcomes. The psychological well-being of 337 Bosnian adolescents living in two towns on opposite sides of the war was assessed using the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL-25) and the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ). Based on the combined symptom scores, and in-depth interviews regarding life history, war experiences, and subjective experience of psychological well-being a gender-matched sub-sample of 40 adolescents was selected and completed a 45-item trauma event scale. Results from the quantitative and qualitative analyses showed that the relationship between exposure, displacement and well-being varied significantly depending on the community in which the adolescents lived. Specific meanings given to different types of war events were important in moderating their effect. Living in a neglected, isolated and depressed community, worry about school performance, missing friends and family breakdown could have as significant an effect on well-being as exposure to war-related events. The findings demonstrate the need to take social context and meaning of events into account when examining the impact of war exposure on psychological well-being.

Key Words: adolescents • Bosnia-Herzegovina • exposure • political violence • psychological well-being

Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Vol. 10, No. 2, 157-176 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/1359104505051209
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