The science behind the violence
DAYS BEFORE Christmas, Emmanuel Saintil, 14, was shot to death in Mattapan while walking home. On Friday night, Luis Gerena, 13, was shot and killed in the Bromley-Heath housing project in Jamaica Plain.
The consequences of such violence last longer than the initial grief and anger, prompting scientists to ask: What impact does witnessing this violence have on children's brains? For those who face chronic trauma, street violence is likely to be one more harmful factor -- unless responses to crime protect children's cognitive development as well as their safety.
"Persisting fear and adaptations to the threat . . . alter the development of the child's brain, resulting in changes in physical, emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and social functioning," writes Dr. Bruce Perry, a senior fellow at the ChildTrauma Academy, a nonprofit organization in Houston. Two things happen, Perry said in an interview. Some adolescents develop "street smarts," a keen skill in reading nonverbal cues, vulnerability, and power. But their heightened fear makes it hard for them to process verbal information such as what a teacher says in class.
Feeling constantly threatened wears out parts of the brain, making adolescents susceptible to depression as they age, Perry says, noting that studies of adults with adverse childhoods show that they are also more vulnerable to heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, and obesity.
"Losing a peer to violence changes children's basic sense of safety in the world," says Betsy McAlister Groves of the Child Witness to Violence Project at Boston Medical Center. Robbed of a sense of safety, children can become fatalistic, arming themselves or engaging in reckless behavior.
"And if adults start to feel hopeless, then it really is all over," Groves says of community violence. Perry concurs, calling children and adolescents "affective sponges" who absorb adult reactions.
What can be done?
"Providing enriching cognitive, emotional, social and physical experiences in childhood could transform our culture," Perry writes.
That requires action on many fronts. An obvious one is better gun control. Government must also invest more in children's mental health care to promote better brain development. Prevention is also vital. And a key tool is high-quality early education and day care. Because these programs nurture brain development, they help with crime prevention, closing the educational achievement gap and easing health disparities among racial groups, says Dr. Jack Shonkoff, head of Harvard's Center on the Developing Child.
As science reveals more about the brain, policy makers should provide not just better policing, but efforts that protect and promote positive brain development.
