However, what are the effects of war and political violence on a 3-year-old
child and how do they differ from the effects on a 10-year-old? What do
children understand about their world when that environment is filled with
chaos and violence? What happens to the development of the moral self and
to the child's developing social competencies? Although it is obvious that
war and exposure to violence cannot be good for children, it is imperative
that we understand exactly what the short- and long-term behavioral effects
are and what are the mechanisms by which socialization to violence occurs.

Research in the behavioral sciences has begun to confront the problems
of children exposed to war and violence. Two general goals are apparent in
this effort. The first is to understand the immediate and perhaps short-term
psychological and physical effects of war and violence so that public health
intervention can take place to deal with the acute and, if left untreated,
chronic effects of exposure. The second is to understand the broader
psychological context around which war and violence are presented and
interpreted by children. In some sense we wish to know the mechanisms by
which we continue to socialize our children to continued political violence
and strife.

Recent work by clinicians and researchers has demonstrated the wide-
spread and often long-term effects of exposure to violence on the psycho-
logical well-being of children. This work has revised past clinical under-
standing that children recover quickly and completely from exposure to
natural and man-made disasters ( Terr, 1983). It lends urgency to the need to
develop wide-ranging public mental health measures in response to the
profound exposure to violence that children around the world experience.

The context in which children are exposed to war and violence has also
become the object of much study. Researchers have begun to study the
manner in which conflict is politicized for children as well as the use and
organization of children for ideological purposes. Children are no longer
passive observers and recipients of the chaos of war but are sometimes
socialized to be the vanguard of political change ( Baker, 1991).

The events surrounding the Gulf War serve as an interesting case study and
example in which one can observe both the immediate and broader
consequences of children's exposure to war and violence. This was a brief,
though violent war, in which children in the Middle East were exposed to
violence and danger and for which it is important to understand the
immediate consequences thereof. In addition, these children live within the
context of the Middle East, a region and area of the world known for its
continued violence and political strife. So it is important not only to observe

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