Perpetuating the Cycle of Violence in South African Low-Income Communities: Attraction to Violence in Young Men Exposed to Continuous Threat

BACKGROUND:

Life in the low-income urban communities of South Africa is imprinted by a cycle of violence in which young males predominantly are in the roles of both victim and perpetrator. There is some evidence that adolescents who show an attraction to cruelty can display high levels of psychosocial functioning despite the presence of posttraumatic stress symptoms. However, the role of appetitive aggression in the context of ongoing threats and daily hassles is not yet fully understood.

OBJECTIVE:

In this study, we examine the role of attraction to violence in areas of continuous traumatic stress exposure and its effect on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) severity and violence perpetration.

METHOD:

A sample of 290 young males from two low-income Cape Town communities was surveyed. We assessed appetitive aggression with the Appetitive Aggression Scale (AAS), PTSD symptoms with the PTSD Symptom Scale-Interview, the number of witnessed and self-experienced traumatic event types with an adaptation of the Child Exposure to Community Violence questionnaire, and the number of perpetrated violence event types with an adapted offence checklist from the AAS.

RESULTS:

Appetitive aggression scores were predicted by witnessed as well as self-experienced traumatic events. Higher appetitive aggression scores resulted in higher levels of PTSD severity and perpetrated violence.

CONCLUSIONS:

Young males living in the low-income areas of South Africa may develop an attraction to cruelty in response to exposure to violence. Their willingness to fight in turn can increase the likelihood of continued violent behaviour. In contrast to previous research from postconflict areas, appetitive aggression and engagement in violence do not prevent the development of PTSD, but are instead associated with higher levels of posttraumatic stress. PTSD symptoms such as avoidance and hyperarousal, as well as an attraction to cruelty and thus the willingness to fight, might support survival in areas of ongoing conflict, but at the same time they could fuel the cycle of violence.

Frequencies of the different types of witnessed and self-experienced trauma events (n=290)

List of traumatic event types
Witnessed violence event types	Prevalence (%)
Have you ever witnessed someone being physically attacked by someone else?	98.6
Have you ever witnessed someone being attacked with a weapon by someone else?	95.2
Have you ever witnessed someone being threatened (to be harmed) by someone else?	91.7
Have you ever seen a dead body (besides at funerals)?	90.7
Was someone you know killed by another person?	81.4
Did someone close to you suffer from a serious illness?	73.7
Have you ever seen somebody being killed?	72.8
Have you ever witnessed a bad accident, like a very serious car accident?	67.8
Have you ever witnessed someone being tortured?	65.3
Have you ever witnessed a life-threatening fire or explosion?	63.8
Have you ever witnessed a family member being attacked by another family member?	59.0
Have you ever witnessed a painful and scary medical treatment (e.g., during an initiation)?	51.0
Have you ever witnessed a family member being threatened by another family member?	42.9
Have you ever witnessed a family member being attacked with a weapon by another family member?	36.8
Have you ever witnessed someone being sexually assaulted by someone else?	26.0
Have you ever witnessed sexual assault in your family by another family member?	2.4
Self-experienced violence event types	Prevalence (%)
Have you ever been threatened to be harmed by someone outside your family?	88.3
Have you ever been physically attacked by someone else?	86.2
Have you ever been attacked with a weapon by someone else?	84.5
Have you ever been physically attacked by someone in your family?	80.0
Have you ever lost a parent/caregiver?	58.5
Have your parents/caregivers regularly humiliated you verbally (e.g., insulted you; said you’re worthless or a bad child)?	55.0
Have you ever been attacked with a weapon (e.g., stick, stone, bottle, belt, knife, gun) by a family member?	51.7
Have you ever felt neglected by your parents/caregivers (e.g., they didn’t support you; didn’t send you to school even though they could have; didn’t care for you)?	49.1
Have you ever had a painful and scary medical treatment (e.g., during an initiation or in a hospital, when you were sick or badly injured)?	47.4
Have you ever been imprisoned?	41.9
Have you ever severely suffered from hunger, so that you worried about your health?	39.9
Have you ever been threatened to be harmed by someone in your family?	37.7
Have you ever been tortured?	37.2
Have you ever suffered from a serious illness?	27.4
Have you ever been in a bad accident, like a very serious car accident?	22.6
Have you ever been in a life-threatening fire or explosion?	14.2
Have you ever been in any kind of natural disaster (e.g., a fire, a tornado/hurricane, a flood, an earthquake)?	9.7
Have you ever been sexually assaulted by someone else?	5.6
Have you ever been sexually assaulted by a family member (e.g., abuse, doing something with your or their private parts that you didn’t want to, watching porn although you were too young or didn’t want to)?	2.1

Below:  Path model presenting the results of an AMOS path analysis, showing standardized regression weights and significance levels for the relationships between witnessed and self-experienced trauma event types, attraction to violence, PTSD symptom severity, and perpetrated violence types

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/zAVvXD

By:  Hinsberger M1, Sommer J2, Kaminer D3, Holtzhausen L4, Weierstall R2,5, Seedat S6, Madikane S7, Elbert T2.

• 1Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Reichenau, Konstanz, Germany; martina.hinsberger@uni-konstanz.de.
• 2Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Reichenau, Konstanz, Germany.
• 3Department of Psychology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
• 4Department of Social Development, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
• 5Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
• 6Department of Psychiatry, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
• 7REALISTIC, Cape Town, South Africa. 

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