BOOK REVIEWS

Children and Political Violence. By Ed Cairns. Cambridge,MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1996, 219 pp., $49 (hardcover).

This book is the latest contribution in a series of publica­tions titled "Understanding the Children's World," editedby Judy Dunn. The general focus of the series is thestudy of children's development. The stated intent of thismonograph is the study of the psychological and socialimpact of "political violence" on children. While it is notimmediately evident what the author means by "politicalviolence," the author subsequently defines it as "all thoseacts of an intergroup nature which are seen by those onboth sides, or one side to constitute violent behavior carriedout in order to influence power relations between the twosets of participants" (p. 11). This is unnecessarily vague anddoes little justice to the enormity of the suffering perpetratedby acts of armed conflict, with their threats of bodily injury,life threat, loss of loved ones, and the devastation of theinfrastructure of a community. It is clear to this reviewerthat "political violence" is a euphemism for armed conflictbetween groups of people, exposing children to an arrayof stressors.

The initial thrust of the book is to provide a comprehensivereview of the literature on stress and coping and the impactof "political violence" on daily life. Dr. Cairns notes, ashave others, the contradictory reports of the effects of armedconflict on children. He tells us, however, that he is notinterested in following the lead of those who have emphasizedthe impact of the degree of bodily and life threat and therole of parents as modulating influences as there "is justnot enough clear evidence available." He prefers to focuson the question of "resiliency" of children. Dr. Cairnsdiscusses the factors he believes shape and configure thevariability of the children's response to stress, i.e., age, sex,

'temperament, personality, family and social support, religion,and political ideology. He legitimately stresses the lack ofcontrolled and empirically designed studies that would allowus to evaluate more critically the role of these factors in thechild's experience. In a thoughtful discussion, the authorstruggles with the importance of "appraisal" in the child'sexperience of the stressors associated with armed conflict.The concept of appraisal implies that the meaning andimpact of the stressor is determined by how it is cognitivelyand subjectively interpreted by the child. This is an importantavenue for exploration. What is not stressed sufficiently arethe personal factors that help shape the child's interpretationof the "array of stressors" inherent in the war experience,i.e., emotional and cognitive development, the degree ofbodily and life threat, the witnessing ofviolent and capriciousmaiming and death, the loss of a sense of safety and security,and the shattering of many of the child's cherished beliefs,

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i.e., mother and father will always be able to protect me,good will triumph over evil, I am invulnerable to injuryand death, and I will live a long life. Nevertheless, theauthor comprehensively reviews and discusses the manystudies exploring the psychological effects of armed conflicton children.

In a puzzling statement, Dr. Cairns states, "the biggestimpact political violence may have on children may notnecessarily be a psychological one" (p. 72). He thus dimin­ishes his stated interest in studying the psychological effectsof "political violence" on children. Dr. Cairns feels thatthere has been too much emphasis on stress and copingand too close a focus on individuals rather than on groupsand communities. The author indicates that his emphasisis on a contextualized approach. He believesthe predominantimpact of political violence is on the infrastructure of thecommunity, and in this perspective the tragedy of theindividual child traumatized by war becomes blurred anddistorted, lost in the focus on systemic perspectives. Thusthe preference for the concept of political violence ratherthan armed conflict represents the author's predominantinterest in the sociopolitical effects of armed conflict on thecommunity and indirectly its effects on children. The resultis that Dr. Cairns' emphasis oscillates between a sociopoliticaland a child-focused perspective. It is when Dr. Cairns is inhis own arena, focusing on macrosystemic effectson children,that he is most persuasive.

The author provides a review of what is known aboutthe effects of armed conflict on the "everyday life" ofchildren. The lack of empirical data, the anecdotal natureof the reports, and the varying conditions of armed conflictand risk and protective factors make it difficult to delineatethe common threads integral to the child's experience. Theauthor describes the important studies depicting the effectsof disrupted family, community, school, and play experienceson children. He discusses the complex but essentially un­known effects of war on aggressive behavior and moraldevelopment. The emphasis on a sociopolitical and commu­nity perspective puts aside a more child-focused inquiry.For example, how is the exposure to aggressive violenceinterpreted and processed as a function of age, gender,parental definitions, identificatory pathways, and the idiosyn­cratic meaning of the experience as a function of cognitive­emotional development? We know that the child strugglingto master his or her own aggressive strivings is often trauma­tized by exposure to unrestrained aggression.

Dr. Cairns describes the complex derivative effects of"political violence" on children and the socialization ofviolence. He utilizes the concept of a "schema" whichbecomes internalized as a social representation of the child'sattitudes about violence, politics, and the larger community.

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Not infrequently children integrate and internalize the war­rior values of the group. It has been reported that the " childwarriors" are often the most feared as they are unscrupulousand seemingly without internal conflict as they aggressivelyviolate others. The long-term effects of the socialization intoviolence remains an imperative research question that needsto be addressed. In an interesting manner the author discussesthe various ways the child may resonate and internalize thepol itical ideology of his or her group. The child 's motivationsmay vary, and they may include material gains (the Lebanesegirl militia member who earns more money than her teacher) ;sensationlthrill-seeking behavior; the narcissistic trappingsassociated with belonging to an elitist group; identificatorylinkages with parents, family, and community leaders; andthe internalization of a social identity. We might wonderhow often children react to the exposure to violence bytaking flight into peaceful pathways. Interviews with "pupilsof war"-children victimized by the armed conflict in Mo­zambique-revealed a surprising number who wanted totake flight into peaceful endeavors as an alternative to war.

The monograph provides a useful and comprehensivereview of the tragic impact of armed conflict on children.Dr. Cairns delineates and highlights the relevant studies andthe devastating impact of armed conflict on the communityand its children. The author is to be congratulated forbringing a topic so painfully tragic and so frequently ignoredto the attention of the professional and lay communities.The book should be read as a well-referenced and well­researched introduction to the devastating effects of armedconfl ict on the community structure and indirectly onchildren.

Jon Shaw, M.D.Professor and Director, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

University of Miami School of Medicine, FL

Contemporary Grandparenting. ByArthur Kombaber, M.D.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. 1996, 231 pp., $39.95(hardcover), $19.95 (soficouer) .

The genesis of this book goes back to the 1960s when,as a result of experience as a practicing child psychiatrist,Arthur Kornhaber searched the scientific literature dealingwith the relationship between grandparents and grandchildand found only two pertinent references. The knowledgegap prompted Kornhaber to initiate in 1970 the GrandparentStudy, initially designed as a 3-year project interviewing 300grandparents and grandchildren. The results of this initialstudy were reported in 1981 by Kornhaber and Woodward(Grandparents/Grandchildren: The Vital Connection. Garden

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BOOK REVIEWS

City, NY: Doubleday) and documented the importance ofthe grandparent-grandchild bond.

A parallel study to develop a clinical methodology forinvolving grandparents in clinical situations was initiated in1975. By 1980 the Kornhabers established a Foundationfor Grandparenting to "raise people 's awareness about theimportance of grandparenting for all three generations." In1983 an interdisciplinary group concerned with intergenera­tional issues convened at the Wingspread Center in Racine,Wisconsin. The Grandparent Study continues to th is day.having established a Grandparent-Grandchild SummerCamp and an Expectant Grandparent Program and investi­gating normal and pathological grandparenting. The 103rdCongress designated 1995 as the Year of the Grandparent.Arthur Kornhaber has earned for himself the title "Grandpar­ent of Grandparenting."

Contemporary Grandparenting brings Kornhaber's insightsup to 1996, summarizing his work of the past 25 years;reviewing the vicissitudes of functional and dysfunctionalgrandparenting against the background of social, economic,and longevity changes; and providing the clinician with atentative classification of disturbances in grandparent­parent-grandchild interactions.

Kornhaber views grandparenting (and now increasinglygrear-grandparenring) as stages in a lifelong developmentalprocess determined by "diverse biological, psychological,interpersonal and social forces" stretching from birth todeath. This developmental point of view sees grandparentidentity as "established" early in childhood. A child 's personalexper iences result in learned impressions of what grandpar­enting is all about. stored as the learned component of a" latent grandparent identity" (LGI) that continues to evolve.That the child is the father of the man is, of course. notnew, but Kornhaber says that the child is also the father(mother) of the grandparent, that the LGI is important inshaping the behavior and feelings of the individualgrandparent.

However, grandparent behavior is determined by anothercomponent, a primary, biologically rooted drive to grandpar­ent, a drive that motivates grandparenting behavior andplaces secondary emphasis on the forces of nurture or sociallylearned behaviors or attitudes. Kornhaber states, "althoughat present there is little hard clinical evidence to support thedrive concept, the idea is supported by personal experience.human behavior studies. case studies and qualitative interviewdata" (p, 67) . For example , a 1993 study in which 96% of250 grandparents responded "absolutely" when asked "Doyou believe there is a drive to grandparent?" is stated asevidence for a biological drive . The bond between thegrandparents and grandchildren is viewed as "ensuring theviability of children and thus the survival of the species"and thus is further evidence of a biological drive.

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