Raising Children in a Violent Context: An intersectionality approach to understanding parents' experiences in Ciudad Juárez.

Children and parents' daily lives are rarely highlighted in coverage of drug wars. Using 16 interviews with parents in the Mexican border city of Juárez in 2010, we examine how drug violence impacts families with a focus on intersections of gender and social class. Related to mobility (the first emergent theme), fathers had increased mobility as compared to mothers, which caused different stresses. Material hardships heightened mothers' isolation within the home, and mothers more often had to enforce children's mobility restrictions, which children resisted. Related to employment (the second emergent theme), fathers took on dangerous jobs to provide for the family while mothers had fewer options for informal employment due to violence. In sum, men and women faced different challenges, which were intensified due to class-based material disadvantages. Conformity with traditional gender expectations for behavior was common for men and women, illustrating the normalization of gender inequality within this context.

Disrupted by violence: children's well-being and families' economic, social, and cultural capital in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Since 2008, Ciudad Juarez (Chihuahua, Mexico) has been undergoing a wave of violence due to a drug war, making the city a difficult environment in which to raise a family. This study uses qualitative methodology that incorporates 16 in-depth interviews with parents of children ages 0-5 years and 9 sets of photos from a subset of interviewed parents. The study explores how families' economic, social, and cultural capital has been disrupted by the violence and how it affects children's well-being. Social and economic capital declined significantly because of the violence as families experienced crime, had increased difficulty finding and maintaining employment, and decreased their interactions outside the home. Interviews also suggested that opportunities to gain cultural capital decreased because of this isolation. Understanding the detrimental effects of violence on families' capital can contribute to understanding children's well-being in violence-stricken communities.

Disrupted by violence: children's well-being and families' economic, social, and cultural capital in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico / Perturbación del bienestar de los niños y del capital económico, social y cultural de las familias debido a la violencia en Ciudad Juárez, México

Since 2008, Ciudad Juarez (Chihuahua, Mexico) has been undergoing a wave of violence due to a drug war, making the city a difficult environment in which to raise a family. This study uses qualitative methodology that incorporates 16 in-depth interviews with parents of children ages 0–5 years and 9 sets of photos from a subset of interviewed parents. The study explores how families’ economic, social, and cultural capital has been disrupted by the violence and how it affects children’s well-being. Social and economic capital declined significantly because of the violence as families experienced crime, had increased difficulty finding and maintaining employment, and decreased their interactions outside the home. Interviews also suggested that opportunities to gain cultural capital decreased because of this isolation. Understanding the detrimental effects of violence on families’ capital can contribute to understanding children’s well-being in violence-stricken communities.

Exploring the efficacy of an environmental health intervention in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

This study explores the efficacy of an environmental health intervention in several poor colonias in Ciudad Juárez (Mexico). Parents of children with respiratory problems were given environment-friendly products intended to replace hazardous products used in the home, as well as information about environmental health. Parents were surveyed before and after to measure the effectiveness of the intervention and to gauge perceptions. There was a significant reduction in hazardous chemical use (eg, cleaning products and pesticides) and breathing problems. While the intervention focused on changing in-home behaviors, open-ended responses revealed that parents were most concerned about outdoor environmental conditions over which they had less control.