CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT AND WAR EXPOSURE FROM THE MEDIA 1
Childhood Development and War Exposure from the Media
Angelique J. Slate
Department of Psychology, Liberty University Online
CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT AND WAR EXPOSURE FROM THE MEDIA 3
Introduction and Background of the Study
The media covers many topics, but war seems to be a primary story. There has
been a growing concern on the type and amount of violence that children are being
exposed to on a daily basis that can include media, toys, and video games to name a few
(Erwin & Morton, 2008). Erwin and Morton (2008) reported that the number of violent
acts that children under the age of 18 are witnessing in the media are continuing to rise is
not just a problem in the United States. Devakumar et al. (2014) discussed that the effects
of war on children’s health whether from physical injuries and/ or mental scars have been
well documented show adverse effects on the health of children. Research has shown to
that war has many affects and exposure to war is just not limited to adults but also to
children (Eltanamly et al. Murphy et al. (2018) reported that in 2015 at least 16 , 2021).
million children were born into conflict and crisis situations in the world. Dubow et al.
(2019) reported that UNICEF USA described 250 million children living in current areas
of prolonged and violent conflict in 2018. Why is it important to know about the
exposure of war to children?
Nature and nurture have been discussed and argued as to the development of
individuals. Both genetics and environment play major roles in the physical and mental
growth of children. Nelson et al. (2020) report that growing research shows that the first
