Availability of family support as a moderator of exposure to community violence

Examined the role of availability of family support in moderating the negat ive effects of exposure to community violence on internalizing symptoms. Pa rticipants were 75 low-income African American children between the ages of 10 and 15. Two measures of availability of family support (mother's presen ce in the home and family size) were evaluated as moderators of the relatio ns between exposure to community violence and depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. After controlling for age, sex, and concur rent life stress, mother's presence in the home moderated the relation betw een exposure to community violence and depressive symptoms but not the rela tion between exposure to community violence and PTSD symptoms. Children liv ing in mother-absent families were at increased risk of depressive symptoms as exposure to community violence increased. In addition, family size appr oached significance as a moderator of depressive symptoms but not PTSD symp toms, revealing a trend toward children from smaller families being at incr eased risk of depressive symptoms as exposure to community violence increas ed These findings suggest that although availability of family support is a n important moderator for depressive symptoms, this is not the case for PTS D symptoms.