This report presents a contextualization of violence in the lives of South African black children, as well as the theoretical foundations, methodology and preliminary results of the first and second part of a longitudinal study to investigate the influence of violent television images on the behavior of these children. This influence is analyzed in the context of various other factors that can contribute to the development of an aggressive lifestyle among young black children. These factors include: inadquate education; poverty; political system; the replacement of the extended family in mass urban black communities; poor housing; and a lack of essential facilities. Subjects were 348 children in grades 2 and 3. Data were collected from four sources--the child, the child's peers, the child's parents, and school personnel--by means of individual, face-to-face interviews in which questionnaires and structured interview schedules were used. It was found that exposure to television violence was low and played an insignificant part in the lives of these children and their parents, while exposure to community violence seems to have played a significant part in the lives of both children and parents. Parents' level of aggression and child-rearing practices showed significant correspondence with a high exposure to violence in real life. There was also a relationship between the number of violent incidents that the child had observed in the community and parental victimization during both years of the study. (A 184-item bibliography is included, and an appendix contains the study questionnaires.) (HTH)