NCJ Number
120986
Journal
International Journal of Mental Health Volume: 18 Issue: 2 Dated: (1989) Pages: 16-43
Date Published
1987
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This study of poor, black, South African children living in a wood, plastic, and iron shantytown from which they were brutally evicted indicates that some 40 percent of those sampled had stress symptoms.
Abstract
The research population consisted of families that had rebuilt shacks some 3 months after their eviction. The 71 families in the convenience sample, all of whom had lost their homes in the attack, each had at least one child between 2 and 18 years old living with them at the time of the eviction. Data relevant to stress manifested in the children after the eviction were obtained from parental reports regarding their children's symptoms of emotional, conduct, and physical disorders not present before the attacks but evident 2 months thereafter. Cumulative stress events tended to render children more emotionally vulnerable than single events. Boys showed more symptoms of stress than girls. Symptom patterns varied with the child's developmental level, and the resilience of mothers was apparently a buffer against stress in children. Children's attitudes toward various groups linked to the eviction showed the strongest negative reaction toward black groups who cooperated in the eviction, an ambivalent attitude toward police and soldiers, and positive attitudes toward the "comrades," a leftist black group. 6 notes, 32 references, 10 tables.