Contextual violence and migration, family structure and adolescents' behaviour : the case of Colombian armed conflict

• Main Author: Sanchez-Cespedes, Lina Maria
• Published: University of Essex 2014
• Subjects: 303.6
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.654473

The objective of this thesis is to determine the effects of the contextual violence caused by armed conflict on people's and households' behaviour. This study defines contextual violence as the exposure to acts of violence committed by the armed groups in Colombia. Thus, it is not only direct victims (e.g. victims of kidnapping, rape, etc.) of these groups who are considered victims of the contextual violence generated by them. Each person that has been exposed to or has lived in areas where armed groups frequently commit violent acts is also · considered a victim of contextual violence. This study contributes to the literature exploring the effects of the exposure to armed conflict on three aspects: 1) the effectiveness of the push effect of contextual violence on municipal out-migration and destination choice, 2) the reorganisation of family structure after migration or displacement, and 3) the change of adolescents' behaviour regarding prematurely assuming adult roles. This study shows that contextual violence because of armed conflict differently affects municipalities, households inside of a municipality and even individuals inside of a household. The third chapter shows / that the push role of contextual violence depends on the wealth of a municipality, and the attractiveness of some municipalities might be attenuated by contextual violence but it does not disappear. The fourth chapter concludes that the effects of household features on the changes in family structure of migrants are moderated by contextual violence and they are different between mothers and children. The fifth chapter shows that the effect of contextual violence on the probability of assuming an adult role depends on adolescent's age, gender, level of poverty and degree of urbanicity at origin; while the sixth chapter concludes that the adaptation after migrating to peaceful environments differs between genders and degrees of urbanicity at origin.