Patricia Kerig – författare

It is estimated that approximately 300,000 children actively serve in various kinds of military groups around the world. Some of these children are forcibly conscripted through abduction or threats of violence to themselves or their families, others are coerced or manipulated into joining, and still others are more subtly compelled by circumstances that lead choosing to enlist to represent the lesser of the evils life has placed before them. No matter how they come to serve in war, however, child soldiers are exposed to, subjected to, and often forced to perpetrate horrors that meet or exceed our diagnostic criteria for trauma exposure.

This volume brings together leading investigators in the field to share new research regarding the traumatic impact of child soldiering from diverse international contexts, including Burundi, Colombia, Liberia, Mozambique, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Uganda, and—provocatively—among gang-involved youth in the United States. Contributions include data from longitudinal studies following former child soldiers into adulthood as well as investigations of the intergenerational impact of childhood conscription on former child combatants own children. In addition, research presented in this volume uncovers sources of resilience among these youth and details efforts to bring trauma-informed intervention and rehabilitation programs to these war-torn regions.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma.

It is estimated that approximately 300,000 children actively serve in various kinds of military groups around the world. Some of these children are forcibly conscripted through abduction or threats of violence to themselves or their families, others are coerced or manipulated into joining, and still others are more subtly compelled by circumstances that lead choosing to enlist to represent the lesser of the evils life has placed before them. No matter how they come to serve in war, however, child soldiers are exposed to, subjected to, and often forced to perpetrate horrors that meet or exceed our diagnostic criteria for trauma exposure.

This volume brings together leading investigators in the field to share new research regarding the traumatic impact of child soldiering from diverse international contexts, including Burundi, Colombia, Liberia, Mozambique, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Uganda, and—provocatively—among gang-involved youth in the United States. Contributions include data from longitudinal studies following former child soldiers into adulthood as well as investigations of the intergenerational impact of childhood conscription on former child combatants own children. In addition, research presented in this volume uncovers sources of resilience among these youth and details efforts to bring trauma-informed intervention and rehabilitation programs to these war-torn regions.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma.

Recent years have seen an explosion of new research dedicated to understanding the link between psychological trauma and juvenile delinquency. Building on the work of the previous decade which uncovered shocking rates of trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress among juvenile justice-involved youth, more recent work has focused on uncovering the underlying developmental mechanisms that account for the association between trauma and antisocial behavior, as well as identifying the intervening processes that might encourage youth to be more positively social.

Part I of this volume is dedicated to research investigating the moderating and mediating variables that might explain how childhood trauma is transformed into adolescent misbehavior. Expert contributors analyse a wide range of both traumas and traumatic reactions, and diverse samples, including little-studied sexual minority youth. This volume is unique in the particular attention it pays to the relatively neglected female offender. Part II describes innovative evidence-based treatments designed specifically to intervene with trauma among delinquent youth, including milieu, individual, group, family and parenting interventions, as well as a novel youth theatre. The collection concludes with reflections on social policy related to the development of a trauma-informed juvenile justice system.

This book was originally published as two special issues of the Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma.