Developed by Richters and Saltzman (1990), the 54-item Survey of Exposure to Community Violence (SECV) measures how often people are exposed to different threats in their communities (e.g., being chased, drug activity, being arrested, physical assault, or witnessing a suicide or homicide).
Researchers have used this scale with 5th and 6th grade children from low-income neighborhoods (Richters & Martinez, 1993), children from families receiving public assistance (Martinez & Richters, 1993), and Black single mothers (Mitchell et al., 2009).
Other researchers have used modified versions of the SECV with urban and rural college students, including students from a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds, including Black, Latinx, Asian, Native, White, and other backgrounds (Rosenthal, 2000; Scarpa, 2001). One student sample included respondents living in public housing, students from single-parent families, and students born outside the United States (Rosenthal, 2000).
INSTRUCTIONS
How: On a scale from 1 (never) to 9 (almost every day), respondents indicate how frequently they have experienced, witnessed, or heard about each type of violence (e.g., “How many times have you yourself been chased by gangs or individuals?” or “How many times have you seen someone else get chased by gangs or older kids?”). If respondents say that they experienced the event more than once, they answer follow-up questions about where it took place (near home, in the home, near school, in school, or other) and when it last happened (about a week ago, about a month ago, about 3 months ago, about 6 months ago, about 9 months ago, about a year ago, between 1 and 2 years ago, between 3 and 5 years ago, or more than 5 years ago). If respondents witnessed the event, they answer questions about whom it happened to (adult stranger, adult acquaintance, adult friend, young stranger, young acquaintance, young friend, parent, brother/sister, other relative, or don’t know).
This scale uses several different response options. Please see the Google document for detailed scoring instructions.
RESPONSE FORMAT