Developmental Aspects of Political Violence

This chapter presents developmental and attachment theory approaches to understanding the impacts of political violence on children and families. It argues that each developmental period provides unique resources and vulnerabilities. The chapter focuses particularly on infancy and adolescence. Both are periods in human life when the most intensive socioemotional, neurocognitive, and psychophysiological reorganizations take place. The chapter suggests an attachment theory approach as a way of increasing the understanding of fetal and infant well-being, dyadic interaction, and parenting in conditions of war and political violence. Research based on attachment theory also guides our understanding of adolescents’ socioemotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses to political violence and trauma. The chapter discusses the developmental and attachment theoretical implications for interventions with victims of violence and trauma-affected infants, adolescents, and their families.