Prevalence of Child and Adolescent Exposure to Community Violence

Abstract

Emerging as one of the most significant health issues facing American youth today, child and adolescent exposure to community violence has generated much interest across multiple disciplines. Most research to date has focused on documenting the prevalence of community violence and the emotional and behavioral ramifications. This paper provides an overview of the current literature regarding prevalence of youth exposure to community violence, and identifies those areas where further research is warranted. In addition to examining overall rates of community violence exposure, this paper reviews the prevalence of different types of community violence, such as weapon use, physical aggression, and crime-related events. Predictors of community violence exposure, including gender, age, race, socioeconomic status, behavior patterns, and geography, are discussed.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Alcohol Dependence in Young Women

“…By making this distinction in our study, we were able to identify a pattern of increasing prevalence of these risk factors from the no trauma to the trauma without PTSD to the PTSD group, which was present for all of the factors examined. In addition, higher rates of both PTSD and trauma in the absence of PTSD were found in African-American women compared with White women, a fi nding that has been reported in a number of prior studies (Breslau et al, , 2004Rheingold et al, 2004;Stein et al, 2003).…”

Improving Outcomes for Children Exposed to Violence: Safe Start Promising Approaches

“…In addition, some children are particularly vulnerable to violence exposure. For instance, community violence exposure is particularly prevalent among urban, minority youths of lower socioeconomic status (Stein et al, 2003).…”

Exploratory Study on the Association between Interpersonal Violence Experiences and Alcohol Use among Adolescents

“…Although numerous studies have documented an association between violence experiences and alcohol use among adults, limited research has investigated the association between interpersonal violence experiences and alcohol use among adolescents. In the general population of adolescents, studies have examined interpersonal violence experiences or childhood maltreatment and various mental health outcomes (for example, Boney-McCoy & Finkelhor, 1995, 1996Margolin et al, 2009;Stein et al, 2003;Voisin, 2007). However, limited research exists on the link between interpersonal violence experiences and alcohol use outcomes in this population (Giaconia et al, 2000;Hamburger et al, 2008;Kilpatrick et al, 2000Kilpatrick et al, , 2003.…”

“…Research has found that adolescents are at higher risk than other youth age groups for community violence experiences, with a high prevalence of such experiences (Aisenberg & Herrenkohl, 2008;Stein, Jaycox, Kataoka, Rhodes, & Vestal, 2003;Voisin, 2007). Data on interpersonal violence reveal that more than one-third of 10-to 16-year-olds have been victims of assault (Boney-McCoy & Finkelhor, 1995).…”

“…In the general population, studies have found that adolescents who have experienced community violence and traumatic events exhibit more psychological and behavioral symptoms than adolescents who have not experienced such events (Aisenberg & Herrenkohl, 2008;Boney-McCoy & Finkelhor, 1995, 1996Margolin et al, 2009;Reijneveld, Crone, Verhulst, & Verloove-Vanhorick, 2003;Stein et al, 2003). Despite the high prevalence of alcohol use among adolescents, we know of only four studies that have explored associations between alcohol use and violence experiences in the general population of adolescents (Giaconia et al, 2000;Hamburger, Leeb, & Swahn, 2008;Kilpatrick et al, 2000Kilpatrick et al, , 2003.…”