Psychosocial sequelae of violent victimization in a national youth sample.

Abstract

In a national telephone sample of youths aged 10-16 years, over one third reported having been the victims of an assault. Victimized respondents displayed significantly more psychological and behavioral symptomatology than did nonvictimized respondents (more symptomatology related to posttraumatic stress disorder, more sadness, and more school difficulties), even after controlling for some other possible sources of distress. Sexual assault was associated with particularly high levels of symptomatology. However, victims of other forms of assault--nonfamily assaults involving weapons or physical injury (aggravated assaults), assaults by parents, violence to genitals, and attempted kidnappings--also evidenced levels of distress that were not statistically lower than those suffered by victims of sexual assault. The findings suggest that substantial mental health morbidity in the general child and adolescent population is associated with victimization.

Parental violence and adolescent mental health

“…Previous studies have revealed that children who have been victims of abuse and neglect have more psychosocial problems, and they function less adaptively in several areas of development than do their non abused peers [10,11,12]..Concerning physical abuse, some evidence exists that both internalizing and externalizing symptoms seem to occur among children and adolescents exposed to physical maltreatment, and that those who experience more serious physical abuse show more internalizing and externalizing behavioural problems than those who experience less serious abuse [13].…”

Men's Pathways to Risky Sexual Behavior: Role of Co-Occurring Childhood Sexual Abuse, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and Depression Histories

“…14 Because PTSD and depression are common-and often comorbid-in men with CSA histories, the presence of a similar relationship between PTSD/ depression and HIV risk behavior may exist for abused men as well. 8,9,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] This study sought to clarify whether the PTSD/depression pathway of the Miller Model could be extended to men and, if so, whether the PTSD/depression linkage between CSA and sexual risk behavior was solely a mediating one or also a moderating one.…”

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

“…For example, Boney-McCoy and Finkelhor (1995) found a 10.5% prevalence of sexual assault in adolescents ages 10 to 16 years in a national sample, whereas Hamburger et al (2008) found 8.9% prevalence in adolescents in a high-risk community. The high prevalence of high school students who reported physical or sexual violence experiences in the current study strengthens the results of the few previous studies that made comparable observations among adolescents (for example, Boney- McCoy & Finkelhor, 1996;Giaconia et al, 2000;Kilpatrick et al, 2003;Thompson, Sims, Kingree, & Windle, 2008).…”

“…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.…”

“…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). A study of U.S. adolescents admitted to a psychiatric inpatient unit found that 18.9% had been physically abused and 9.9% had been sexually abused during their lifetime (Evans, Spirito, Celio, Dyl, & Hunt, 2007).…”