246351
Association of Violence with Young CHILDREN'S Physical HEALTH IN Colombia
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Angela Maria Pinzon-Rondon, MD, MPH
,
School of Medicine, Universidad del Rosario, Bogota, Colombia
Sandra Hofferth, PhD
,
Department of Family Science, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, MD
Woodie Kessel, MD, MPH
,
Department of Family Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Sally A. Koblinsky, PhD
,
Department of Family Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Juan Botero-Navia, LLM, JD
,
Law School, Georgetown University, Washington DC, DC
The association of violence with the physical health of children under five years of age in Colombia is studied. The association of harsh parental discipline and intimate partner violence with child health is explored. Secondary data from the Colombian Demographic and Health Survey 2005 and the Colombian National Census 2005 were analyzed. A total of 10,681 children under five years of age from 230 municipalities were included in the analyses. In the family level models, parental harsh discipline and intimate partner violence were associated with poor child health. Families who used harsh discipline had children with approximately 8% more symptoms of poor health than those who didn't use such punitive practices and families who experienced intimate partner violence had children with approximately 20% more symptoms than those who did not experience such violence. In the multilevel models, community violence and intimate partner violence predicted poor child health while parental harsh discipline failed to predict it. Children living in violent communities had 16% more symptoms of poor health than those living in nonviolent communities, and children from families that experienced intimate partner violence had on average 18% more symptoms of poor health than those living in families without intimate partner violence. Despite the study limitations, mainly its cross-sectional nature and restraints imposed by secondary data, the results indicate that violence is related to young Colombian children's poor physical health. These findings suggest the need to continue studying the effects of violence on health outcomes in different populations.
Learning Areas:
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences
Learning Objectives: Explore the effects that social violence and domestic violence might have on the children physical health
Keywords: Child Health, Violence
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Not Answered
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