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Safeguarding Themselves and Their Children: Mothers Share Their Strategies

NCJ Number
189084
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 16 Issue: 1 Dated: March 2001 Pages: 75-92
Author(s)
Wanda K. Mohr Ph.D.; John W. Fantuzzo Ph.D.; Saburah Abdul-Kabir
Editor(s)
Vincent B. Van Hasselt, Michel Hersen
Date Published
March 2001
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study elicited information on how women living in poor and unsafe neighborhoods kept themselves and their children safe on a day-to-day basis.
Abstract
This study described a single aspect of an on-going program of research that sought to create an open dialog among low-income parents of young children, staff from a large urban Head Start program, and researchers on child and woman safety. The data presented was concerned with questions posed to parents on how they cope with day-to-day violence in their homes and communities. This study was conducted at the Head Start center located in one of the highest crime sections of the city of Philadelphia. A content analysis was conducted on three focus groups within a larger ethnographic study employing qualitative methods. Results indicated that when coping with violence in the home women would turn to self-injurious behavior as a means of control. This was perceived as a self-sacrificial action taken on behalf of their children. In addition, women would engage in forewarning their mate of very clear consequences to any potentially injurious actions. In creating a safe space within their neighborhoods or communities, women believed in safety in numbers and identifying with group solidarity as forms of resistance, the use of imagination in perceiving opportunity and possibilities where others would not, neighborhood schools such as Head Start and churches were seen as environmental buffers against the dangers of the outside world, and the emergence of informal leadership in small groups. Overall, the data forthcoming from this analysis illustrated the ingenuity with which women keep themselves and their children safe in unsafe contexts.