Polyvictimization Patterns for Ethnic and Sexual Minority Youth: Trauma, Suicide, and Mental Health Correlates

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Adolescents who bully or are victimized by peers are at risk for social-emotional problems, which may be compounded by experiencing individual - and community-level trauma. For adolescents at risk for discrimination, poverty, or violence, it is important to examine how negative peer interactions are related to mental health and positive functioning.

The first paper (Associations Between Electronic and School Bullying and Suicide Behavior in Ethnic and Sexual Minority Youth) reports on the current national prevalence of bullying in and out of the high school context, and the relation to suicide behaviors. This is the first study to look at the suicidal behaviors of sexual minority and racial/ethnic minority groups in a recent, nationally representative sample of adolescents.

The second paper (Hurt People Hurt People: Relations Between Adverse Experiences and Patterns of Cyber and In-Person Aggression Victimization Among Adolescents From Urban, High-Burden Communities) explores whether adolescents with differential involvement in bullying and victimization also differ in their exposure to community violence, trauma, and abuse. Strengths of this paper include identifying subtypes of bullying and victimization and tying these to understudied correlates.

The final paper (Traumatic Pasts and Hopeful Futures: Participation in Bullying and Differential Associations with Trauma, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse) identifies subtypes of bullying and victimization, and the differential patterns associated with mental health, lifetime trauma experiences, and substance abuse. In addition to examining ethnic minority youth, strengths of this paper include the measurement of positive outcomes, such as adolescents’ hope for the future

Sub Unit

• Social Relationships

Chair

• Laura K Clary, Johns Hopkins University

Discussant

• Tamar Mendelson, Johns Hopkins University

Individual Presentations

• Associations Between Electronic Bullying and Suicide Behavior in Racial/Ethnic and Sexual Minority Youth - Presenting Author: Lindsey Webb, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Non-Presenting Author: Laura K Clary, Johns Hopkins University; Non-Presenting Author: Tamar Mendelson, Johns Hopkins University

• “Hurt people hurt people”: Relations between adverse experiences and patterns of cyber and in-person aggression victimization among adolescents from urban, high-burden communities - Presenting Author: Kelly OConnor, Virginia Commonwealth University; Non-Presenting Author: Terri Norton Sullivan, Virginia Commonwealth University; Non-Presenting Author: Katherine Ross, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Traumatic pasts and hopeful futures: participation in bullying and differential associations with trauma, mental health, and substance abuse - Presenting Author: Laura K Clary, Johns Hopkins University; Non-Presenting Author: Steven Sheridan, Johns Hopkins University; Non-Presenting Author: Tamar Mendelson, Johns Hopkins University