Childhood Sexual Abuse, Gender, and Depression Among Incarcerated Youth

Abstract

This study examined whether sexual abuse was related to higher levels of psychological distress among incarcerated youth and if the effects were invariant across gender. Participants were male and female adolescents, aged 11 to 20 years, incarcerated in six juvenile correctional institutions in five states. Using data from a national study of juveniles confined to secure institutions, this study assessed the relationship between gender, sexual abuse, and depression. Adolescents who were sexually abused during childhood compared to adolescents who were not report higher levels of depression. Sexually abused girls and boys report higher levels of depression compared to boys not sexually abused. These findings suggest the importance of understanding the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and depressive symptoms among incarcerated youth. Additionally, the findings suggest that the effects of childhood sexual abuse are similar for males and females among a high-risk sample of institutionalized juvenile delinquents. Implications for treatment of incarcerated youth are discussed.

Reliability and Validity of the Early Trauma Inventory Self Report-Short Form among Korean Adolescents

“…The observed association between childhood trauma and clinical anxiety symptoms is consistent with previous studies. 2,3,[5][6][7] Contrary to the well-known association between sexual abuse and the risk of psychiatric problems, 4,17) in this study, the relationship of sexual abuse and clinical symptom measures was weaker than that for other types of trauma with clinical symptom measures. This may be due to a very low frequency of reports of sexual abuse in our sample.…”

“…1) Significant associations between childhood trauma and impaired mental health in adolescence [2][3][4][5][6][7] and adulthood [8][9][10][11][12][13][14] have been documented in numerous studies. Early life experiences of trauma may affect children's ability to modulate physiological arousal, and the subsequent loss of self-regulation is related to both emotional problems such as depression and anxiety and behavioral problems such as self-destructive behavior and substance abuse.…”

“…15) Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, eating disorders, sleep disorders, suicide attempts, conduct disorder, substance abuse, and internet addiction are among the psychiatric problems found to be associated with childhood trauma in previous studies. [2][3][4][5][6][7][16][17][18][19] There has also been a growing literature indicating that poly-victimization (exposure to more than one type of trauma) increases the risk of several psychiatric disorders and symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, PTSD, and suicide attempts. [12][13][14]16,20,21) Despite the significance of trauma, recalling trauma without specific questionnaires could limits the range of traumatic events.…”

The Cycle of Violence Behind Bars: Traumatization and Institutional Misconduct Among Juvenile Delinquents in Confinement

“…Beyond these offender-based variables, there is also considerable evidence that various forms of violence, abuse, depravity, and suffering that occur in early life environments engender maladaptive and antisocial behaviors across contexts including periods of confinement (Farrington & Welsh, 2007;DeLisi & Muñoz, 2003;Gover, 2004;Maas, Herrenkohl, & Sousa, 2008;McCord, 1991;Patterson, 1982;Teague, Mazerolle, Legosz, & Sanderson, 2008;Wright, Tibbetts, & Daigle, 2008). Indeed, environmental exposure to violence figures directly or indirectly in many theoretical explanations of crime including social learning, cultural deviance, general strain, differential oppression, and self-control.…”

A Dynamic and Gender Sensitive Understanding of Adolescents’ Personal and School Resilience Characteristics Despite Family Violence: The Predictive Power of the Family Violence Burden Level

“…In their introduction to the World Health Organization's manual for estimating the costs of violence, Butchart et al (2008) state that, "Every day, children, women and men live inside their homes with the fear of violence by close family members" (p. v). Further, DeLisi et al (2010, p. 108) in their extensive review of the literature on the cycle of violence and crime, tell us that "there is considerable evidence that various forms of violence, abuse, depravity, and suffering that occur in early life environments engender maladaptive and antisocial behaviors across contexts (see also Farrington & Welsh, 2007;Gover, 2004;Maas, Herrenkohl, & Sousa, 2008;Patterson, 1982;Teague, Mazerolle, Legosz, & Sanderson, 2008;Wright, Tibbetts, & Daigle, 2008)". DeLisi and colleagues also point out that "environmental exposure to violence figures directly or indirectly in many theoretical explanations of crime….…”