The relationship between community violence exposure and mental health symptoms in urban adolescents

Abstract

Urban adolescents are exposed to a substantial amount of community violence which has the potential to influence psychological functioning. To examine the relationship between community violence exposure and mental health symptoms in urban adolescents, a literature review using MEDLINE, CINAHL, PubMed, PsycINFO, CSA Social Services, and CSA Sociological Abstracts was conducted. Search terms included adolescent/adolescence, violence, urban, mental health, well-being, emotional distress, depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and aggression. Twenty six empirical research articles from 1997-2007 met inclusion criteria for review. Findings indicate an influence of community violence exposure on mental health symptoms, particularly posttraumatic stress and aggression. Mediators and moderators for community violence exposure and mental health symptoms help explain relationships. Limitations in the literature are the lack of consistency in measurement and analysis of community violence exposure, including assessment of proximity and time frame of exposure, and in analysis of victimization and witnessing of community violence. Knowledge about identification of urban adolescents exposed to chronic community violence and who experience mental health symptoms is critical to mental health nursing practice and research. KeywordsAdolescent; Community Violence; Mental Health; Urban Urban adolescents report very high rates of community violence exposure (CVE); more than 85% witness some form of violence in their lifetime (Farrell & Bruce, 1997;Overstreet & Braun, 2000;Mazza & Reynolds, 1999;Pastore, Fisher, & Friedman, 1996) and as many as 69% report direct victimization (Duckworth, Hale, Clair, & Adams, 2000;Howard, Feigelman, Li, Cross, & Rachuba, 2002;Overstreet & Braun, 2000). These rates make it important to examine the effects of CVE on the psychological well-being of urban adolescents. For this paper, CVE is considered to be "deliberate acts intended to cause harm against a person or persons in the community" (Cooley, Turner, & Beidel, 1995, p. 202). CVE encompasses direct victimization and witnessing violence against others.Depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and aggression have negative associations with CVE in urban adolescents (Cooley-Quille, Boyd, Frantz, & Walsh, 2001;Foster, Kuperminc & Price, 2004;Gorman-Smith & Tolan, 1998 1999). These relationships between CVE and mental health, however, are not always consistent, and the impact of CVE on urban adolescents' psychological functioning is not clearly established (Farrell & Bruce, 1997;White, Bruce, Farrell, & Kliewer, 1998). Some investigators discuss desensitization, where adolescents adapt by having lower than expected mental health symptoms in response to CVE (McCart et al., 2007;Ng-Mak, Salzinger, Feldman, & Stueve, 2004). These discrepancies call for a better understanding of the correlates between CVE and mental health.The purpose of this article is to examine the research on the relationships between CVE and ment...

Victimization in Young Urban Adults and Depressed Mood: Understanding the Interplay of Coping and Gender

“…Some have suggested that desensitization to violence occurs (McDonald & Richmond, 2008). For example, it has been found that some adolescents adapt to violence, which would explain a lack of/or decrease in incidents of psychological distress (McDonald & Richmond, 2008).…”

Anger Mediates the Relation Between Violence Exposure and Violence Perpetration in Incarcerated Boys

“…PTSD has been established as a common mental health outcome associated with exposure to violence (McDonald and Richmond 2008;Schwab-Stone et al 1999;Singer et al 1995), as well as a predictor of violence perpetration (Fehon et al 2005;Flannery et al 2001;Jakupcak and Tull 2005;Lee andHoaken 2007, Moretti et al 2006). In their review of twenty-six studies, McDonald and Richmond (2008) concluded that PTSD and aggression were outcomes most strongly related to exposure to community violence. Fehon et al (2005) and Flannery Singer, and Wester (2001) both found that youth who reported engaging in violent behaviors had higher levels of both exposure to violence and symptoms of PTSD than nonviolent youth.…”

Assessing Adult Exposure to Community Violence

“…2005; Fowler, Tompsett, Braciszewski, Jacques-Tiura, & Baltes, 2009;McDonald & Richmond, 2008;Trickett, Duran, & Horn, 2003). In 2000, Guterman and colleagues specifically recommended that researchers in this area include clear conceptual and operational definitions of community violence to allow comparisons across studies.…”