U researchers found that a significant number of young children and teens raised in war-torn environments believe that stealing and violence are wrong but approve of revenge.
“The kids and the adolescents essentially said it’s wrong to hurt other people, (and) it’s wrong to steal from other people, but?if these are the people who have hurt (their) family, then it’s OK,” said Cecilia Wainryb, U professor of psychology and lead researcher in the study.
The researchers studied children in Usme, one of the poorest areas of Bogotá, Colombia. The South American country has suffered from the effects of war for about 50 years.
Thousands of people have been forced from their homes and have settled in refugee camps on the outskirts of Bogotá, Wainryb said. Many children have lost their parents and are left to fend for themselves in areas where unemployment and poverty levels are high, she said.
Wainryb said there are long-lasting consequences of exposure to chronic violence. The violence and sense of chaos make children feel that as long as there is not a fair system or any person they can rely on, they have no reason to do what is right. “The more we understand child development and how individuals best come to adulthood with the emotional and moral reserves necessary to become happy and self-sufficient adults, the more likely we all are to live in greater peace and productivity,” said Leah Klungness, a psychologist who focuses on childhood stealing, school refusal and single parenting.
“Given the amount of time that has transpired, many of these children are now bringing children into this very society, which failed to meet even their most basic emotional needs,” Klungness said.
Melanie Killen, professor of human development at the University of Maryland, said Wainryb’s work reflects important social and cultural developments that researchers need to examine.
“She and her colleague Roberto Posada have conducted groundbreaking work on how children manage to recover in a violent society,” Killen said.
Wainryb and Posada, a psychology fellow at the U, have been researching the moral development of children raised in Colombia.
The study, which was published last week in the Child Development journal, will help lay groundwork for future studies to help children in lawless societies such as Colombia recover from deprivation, Killen said.