Correlates of community violence exposure in hospitalized adolescents
Abstract
To examine psychological and behavioral correlates of community violence exposure in psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents, 89 inpatients were administered a battery of psychometrically well-established self-report instruments. Violence exposure was assessed using the Child's Exposure to Violence Checklist (CEVC). Half of the patients reported exposure to multiple incidents violence in their community (52%) and home (53%). Sixty-one percent were victims of physical assault, and 39% were victims of sexual assault. Patients who had witnessed community violence reported significantly more post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, drug use, and violence potential than patients without a history of witnessing community violence. Patients exposed to community violence were also more likely to be the victim of childhood maltreatment, as well as a perpetrator of violence. In conclusion, traumatization via exposure to community violence may serve as one important determinant in the development of mixed internalizing and externalizing psychopathology in adolescent inpatients, thus necessitating accurate assessment and treatment planning.
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“Overlapping and intersecting challenges”: Parent and provider perspectives on youth adversity during community reentry after incarceration
2021, Children and Youth Services ReviewCitation Excerpt :Moreover, several parents described youth efforts to deliberately avoid peers in order to reduce or avoid substance use. Reported concerns on youth substance use align with the documented high rate of substance use disorder in the juvenile justice population (Teplin et al., 2002) and previous work linking exposure to neighborhood violence and substance use to recidivism (Fehon et al., 2001; Phillips & Lindsay, 2011). Parent and provider concerns about environmental and contextual factors indicate a need to further consider an ecological-systems based approach to understand and support youth undergoing reentry.
Parents and health and service providers play key roles in supporting youth during reentry, defined as the six-month period following release from incarceration. During reentry, parents and providers help youth overcome various challenges, as well as address high medical and behavioral healthcare needs. We used thematic analysis to understand parent and provider perspectives on youth responses to adversity during reentry as it relates to youths’ health and wellbeing. In total, we examined 52 interviews conducted with 34 parents of youth undergoing reentry. Parents participated in longitudinal interviews, with the first interview occurring one month after youth release and follow-up interviews at three and six months post-release. We also examined 20 interviews done with providers who serve youth undergoing reentry. The sample of health and service providers included medical and behavioral health providers in community and correctional health settings, as well as leaders in education, juvenile justice, and correctional healthcare. Interviews were conducted in Los Angeles County between 2016 and 2018. In our analyses, we identified themes on the types of adversity youth experience during reentry, as well as youths’ health-related behavioral responses to the adversity. Parents and providers shared that: 1) youth face challenges tied to the reentry process; 2) youth return to ongoing challenges in their environments upon reentry; 3) youth engage in health-promoting behavioral responses to adversity; and 4) youth engage in health-detracting behavioral responses to adversity. Parent and provider perspectives suggest a need to expand systems of support to facilitate health-promoting responses to adversity during reentry in order to improve youths’ long-term health and reentry success.
Green infrastructure and violence: Do new street trees mitigate violent crime?
2018, Health and PlaceExposure to violence has been deemed as a public health epidemic due to its negative impact on mental health outcomes, especially for residents of neighborhoods where violent crime is prevalent. Access to nature has the potential to mitigate diminished mental health outcomes, such as aggression. However, current literature specifying effective and equitable green infrastructure practices is lacking. The purpose of this study was to measure the extent to which Portland's green infrastructure initiative reduced neighborhood violence by increasing the availability of new trees to residents of underserved communities as a modality for green infrastructure intervention. Lagged multilevel modeling was used to determine whether an increase in new street trees resulted in reduced violent crime counts in the years following the planting of the trees. Results indicated that there was a strong negative correlation between the number of trees planted and violent crimes in the years following the planting of trees, net of neighborhood covariates. This effect was especially pronounced in neighborhoods with lower median household income. These findings suggest that the inclusion of new street trees in underserved neighborhoods may be one solution to the endemic of violence in such neighborhoods.
The interplay between trauma, substance abuse and appetitive aggression and its relation to criminal activity among high-risk males in South Africa
2017, Addictive BehaviorsIn persistently unsafe environments, the cumulative exposure to violence predicts not only the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but also of increased aggression and violent outbursts. Substance use disorders interact with these developments, as drug consumption may blunt symptoms and also reduce the threshold for violent acts. Investigating the interplay between these variables and the possible cumulative effect of drug abuse on the attraction to cruelty is a crucial step in understanding the cycle of violence and developing intervention programs that address this cycle in violence-troubled communities such as low-income urban areas in South Africa.
Young males at risk (N = 290) were recruited through a reintegration center for offenders in Cape Town. We assessed types of traumatic events experienced, PTSD symptom severity, appetitive aggression, committed offenses and patterns of drug abuse prior to the perpetration of violence.
Path-analyses confirmed a positive relationship between exposure to traumatic events and PTSD symptom severity, appetitive aggression, the number of committed offenses and drug abuse prior to violence. PTSD symptoms were positively associated with the propensity toward aggression. Furthermore, more severe drug abuse was related to higher attraction to violence and more committed offenses.
We conclude that like exposure to violence, drug abuse may play a key role in the attraction to aggression and criminal acts. Measures of violence prevention and psychotherapeutic interventions for trauma-related suffering may not be effective without enduring drug abuse rehabilitation.
Vasopressin differentially modulates aggression and anxiety in adolescent hamsters administered anabolic steroids
2016, Hormones and BehaviorAdolescent Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) treated with anabolic/androgenic steroids display increased offensive aggression and decreased anxiety correlated with an increase in vasopressin afferent development, synthesis, and neural signaling within the anterior hypothalamus. Upon withdrawal from anabolic/androgenic steroids, this neurobehavioral relationship shifts as hamsters display decreased offensive aggression and increased anxiety correlated with a decrease in anterior hypothalamic vasopressin. This study investigated the hypothesis that alterations in anterior hypothalamic vasopressin neural signaling modulate behavioral shifting between adolescent anabolic/androgenic steroid-induced offensive aggression and anxiety. To test this, adolescent male hamsters were administered anabolic/androgenic steroids and tested for offensive aggression or anxiety following direct pharmacological manipulation of vasopressin V1A receptor signaling within the anterior hypothalamus. Blockade of anterior hypothalamic vasopressin V1A receptor signaling suppressed offensive aggression and enhanced general and social anxiety in hamsters administered anabolic/androgenic steroids during adolescence, effectively reversing the pattern of behavioral response pattern normally observed during the adolescent exposure period. Conversely, activation of anterior hypothalamic vasopressin V1A receptor signaling enhanced offensive aggression in hamsters exposed to anabolic/androgenic steroids during adolescence. Together, these findings suggest that the state of vasopressin neural development and signaling in the anterior hypothalamus plays an important role in behavioral shifting between aggression and anxiety following adolescent exposure to anabolic/androgenic steroids.
A self-report study of sexual victimization in Spanish community adolescents and at-risk groups
2015, Gaceta SanitariaConocer la extensión de la victimización sexual de menores en cuatro grupos de jóvenes españoles/as a partir de sus propios reportes.
Estudio observacional, transversal y multicéntrico. La victimización sexual se evaluó a partir de siete preguntas del Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire. Se encuestó a 1105 adolescentes (edad media [M] = 14,52; desviación típica [DT] = 1,76) de siete centros de educación secundaria, 149 adolescentes (M = 14,28; DT = 1,45) de 14 centros de salud mental infantojuvenil, 129 adolescentes (M = 14,59; DT = 1,62) institucionalizados en 18 centros residenciales (78,3%) y de acogida (21,7%) del sistema de protección, y 101 adolescentes (M = 16,08; DT = 0,99) reclutados/as en tres centros cerrados de justicia juvenil (77,2%) y cinco equipos de medio abierto (22,8%).
La extensión de la victimización sexual oscila entre un 14,7% a lo largo de la vida del total de la muestra comunitaria, un 23,5% en los/las jóvenes atendidos/as en centros de salud mental, un 35,6% de los/las jóvenes involucrados/as en el sistema de justicia juvenil y un 36,4% de los/las menores atendidos/as por el sistema de protección. Existe una mayoría de víctimas de sexo femenino, excepto en menores de justicia juvenil.
La victimización sexual de menores es un problema extendido en nuestro país, que se distribuye de manera diferencial en función del colectivo que se analice.
To determine the extent of sexual victimization in four groups of Spanish adolescents based on their own reports.
An observational, cross-sectional, multicenter study was conducted. Sexual victimization was assessed by seven questions included in the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire. The samples were composed of 1,105 adolescents (mean age [M] = 14.52, standard deviation [SD] = 1.76) from seven secondary schools; 149 adolescents (M = 14.28; SD = 1.45) from 14 child and adolescent mental health centers; 129 adolescents (M = 14.59, SD = 1.62) institutionalized in 18 long-term (78.3%) and short-term (21.7%) residential centers belonging to the child protection system; and 101 adolescents (M = 16.08, SD = 0.99) recruited from three detention centers (77.2%) and five open regime teams or follow-up services for court orders for minors not requiring loss of freedom (22.8%).
The extent of lifetime sexual victimization ranged from 14.7% of the adolescents in the community sample to 23.5% of youths attended in mental health services, 35.6% of youths involved in the juvenile justice system, and 36.4% of children protected by the child welfare system. Most of the victims were female, the only exception being the group of male victims from the juvenile justice system.
Sexual victimization of children is widespread in Spain and its distribution differs depending on the group of children under study.
The contribution of different forms of violence exposure to internalizing and externalizing symptoms among young South African adolescents
2015, Child Abuse and NeglectWhile many youth are exposed to multiple forms of co-occurring violence, the comparative impact of different forms of violence on the mental health of children and adolescents has not been clearly established. Studies from low and middle income countries in particular are lacking. The present study examined the contribution of different forms of violence to internalizing and externalizing symptoms among young adolescents in South Africa. A community-based sample of 616 high school learners completed self-report scales assessing exposure to six different forms of violence and the severity of depression, aggression and conduct disorder symptoms. In bivariate analyses, all six forms of violence were significantly associated with internalizing and externalizing difficulties. When the contribution of all forms of violence to mental health outcomes was examined simultaneously, domestic victimization emerged as the strongest predictor of both internalizing and externalizing difficulties. Cumulative exposure to other forms of violence contributed further to the prediction of aggression and conduct disorder, but not depression. Recommendations for future research, and the implications of the findings for prioritizing the development of violence prevention and intervention initiatives in the South African context, are considered.