Volume 94, Issue 5 p. 1222-1238
REGISTERED REPORT

Supporting child and family resilience in the face of political violence: Evidence from a home visit parenting program

Jane Leer

Corresponding Author

Jane Leer

Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA

Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA

Lynch School of Education and Human Development, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA

Correspondence

Jane Leer, Lynch School of Education and Human Development, 140 Commonwealth Ave, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA.

Email: [email protected]

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Florencia Lopez Boo

Florencia Lopez Boo

Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

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Savannah Norman

Savannah Norman

Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA

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First published: 18 August 2023
Citations: 1

Abstract

Political violence affects more than 25% of children globally, yet little is known about how to support positive adaptation among conflict-affected children. Using a sample of 3797 Nicaraguan child-caregiver dyads (MAgeTime1 = 1.5 years, MAgeTime2 = 5.9 years; 51% male), this registered report used a novel quasi-experimental approach to examine how exposure to political violence relates to child and caregiver outcomes, and to test three policy-relevant moderators: participation in a large-scale home visit parenting program, household economic disruption, and media exposure. Results revealed positive associations between political violence and harsh discipline practices (0.33 SD), but there was no evidence that political violence affected children's behavior, caregiver depressive symptoms, or responsive parenting practices, and there was no evidence of moderation.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT

We have no known conflict of interest to disclose.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

Code for all analyses and the study's pre-registered analysis plan are available at: https://osf.io./cjpzf. The data needed to replicate findings are not publically available.