Abstract

GALAN JIMENEZ, Jaime Sebastián F.; CALDERON MAFUD, José Luis; SANCHEZ-ARMASS CAPPELLO, Omar  and  GUZMAN SESCOSSE, Mario. Exposure and Desensitization to Violence among Mexican Youth from Different Social Contexts. Acta de investigación psicol [online]. 2022, vol.12, n.3, pp.5-17.  Epub June 26, 2023. ISSN 2007-4719.  https://doi.org/10.22201/fpsi.20074719e.2022.3.458.

The aim of this research was to measure the exposure and desensitization to violence in young people from five contexts in different educational institutions and a Juvenile Detention Center in the city of San Luis Potosí and its surroundings in Mexico. Desensitization to violence is a phenomenon that is generated due to constant exposure to violence, resulting in a decrease in emotional responses, adverse judgments, and opposition to violent acts, it can lead to a normalization of violent acts and with it a minimization of their seriousness, which promotes positive emotions in the individual such as pleasure, fun or entertainment when exposed to said acts or events. Method: a comparative cross-sectional analytical study was carried out in 25 institutions of higher secondary education, located in rural areas and in polygons identified as violent, near to polygons and far from them, and in a Juvenile Detention Center with a total of 1720 male participants. Results: Significantly higher means were found in desensitization to violence in participants from the internment center, later from those of the areas that were initially identified as far from the polygons of violence, and finally the lowest in the rural context. Regarding exposure to violence, it was higher in those participants far from the polygons of violence, then in young people from the internment center, and finally those from the rural context. In addition, of the three areas analyzed, lower levels of schooling were found in people in a situation of internment. Conclusions: Desensitization to violence occurs as a consequence of exposure to violence and behaviors that threaten social security. Also, it was found that artistic activities and being part of a family, with father and mother together, worked as a protective factor against desensitization to violence. Some plausible explanations for these findings are suggested.

Keywords : Desensitization to violence; Structural violence; Exposure to violence; Social learning; Art.

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