The Mental Health Consequences of Exposure to Community Violence Among Serious Adolescent Offenders

• In Event: 282 - Section on Medical Sociology Paper Session. Trauma, Victimization, and Health (co-sponsored with the Section on Sociology of Mental Health)

Abstract

The present study uses longitudinal data to investigate whether differences in exposure to community violence differentiate among serious juvenile offenders in terms of mental health symptomatology for depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress, and hostility. Group-based modeling and mediation analyses were used to assess the influence of exposure to violence on mental health outcomes. The results show that the mediating effects of psychosocial maturity, social support, and religiosity were not significant. However, the direct effects of exposure to community violence were significant. Those with either increasing or stable high exposure had higher PTSD symptoms; all but the low exposure group report symptoms of depression; and those with increasing exposure had both significantly more anxiety and hostility than any other group.

Authors

• Deborah Baskin, Loyola University-Chicago

• Ira Sommers, Loyola University-Chicago