Results support a comprehensive model for understanding adolescent health risk behaviors that includes cumulative risk and promotive factors using an ecological systems framework. Clinical implications of this study emphasize the need for early interventions that target vulnerable youth, focus on violence exposure, and strengthen assets and resources across ecological domains. Understanding the contributions of risk and promotive on health risk behaviors among adolescents with histories of violence exposure can inform interventions for this vulnerable group of adolescents who are disproportionately at risk for a wide range of adolescent problems.
Limited research indicates that childhood violence exposure (physical, sexual, and witnessed) significantly predicts menarcheal age. Age at menarche serves as an important biomarker of women’s health, with earlier and later ages of initial menstruation associated with psychosocial and physical health risks across the lifespan, such as depression, anxiety, substance use, delinquency, sexual risk behaviors, reproductive cancers, type 2 diabetes, and other cardiometabolic risk factors. Despite the association between violence exposure and menarcheal age, study methodologies confound whether violence exposure predicts earlier or later ages at menarche, if early menarche increases risk of experiencing violence, or if shared factors predict both. The disproportionate risk of violence exposure facing low-income African American girls and the underrepresentation of African American girls in menarche research necessitates a specific look at this population. In the present study, 177 African American adolescent girls (ages 14-22) completed the Lifetime Victimization and Trauma History (LTVH). Age at menarche was collected from questionnaires completed by mothers of the participants and used to establish temporality. This ensured that only violence exposure occurring prior to girls’ age at menarche was captured. Prior to menarche, 27.1% of the sample experienced physical violence, 9% sexual violence, and 21.5% witnessed violence. The mean menarcheal age for this sample was 11.71 years, lower than the national average for African American girls. Regression models including well-established covariates of menarcheal age, such as body mass index (BMI) and maternal age at menarche, were used to clarify the strength and direction of the relationship between violence exposure and age at menarche. Outcomes of the study deepen our understanding of how violence exposure relates to an important index of psychological and physical health for girls and women, and provide new evidence of how this relationship varies by type of violence exposure. Enhanced research in this area reveals the need for increased coordination between primary care medicine and mental health care, or psychology embedded in primary care, particularly when thinking about girls who are at increased risk of violence exposure in childhood.
Exposure to violence in childhood is found to be a risk factor for dating violence victimization, but few studies have empirically examined mechanisms to help explain this link. The present study aimed to examine the potential mediating effect of mental illness in the pathway from childhood violence exposure to dating violence victimization in a sample of treatment seeking, urban adolescent African American girls. This study also examined different types of childhood violence exposure including both intra- and extra-familial violence and assessed how each type of violence exposure in childhood relates to revictimization through dating violence. Participants of current study were originally recruited from outpatient mental health clinics in Chicago, Illinois, as part of a longitudinal project on HIV risk behaviors, and have now been followed over six waves of data collection. This study focused on participants (N = 177) who completed wave six follow-up and conducted secondary analyses using data collected from wave one (baseline) and wave six to obtain information on childhood violence exposure history, mental health, and dating violence victimization. The results suggested that girls who reported dating violence victimization were significantly more likely to be exposed to violence early in life than those who did not report dating violence victimization. Moreover, girls experiencing home violence in childhood were nearly five times more likely to report being a victim of teen dating violence. Mediation analyses revealed a statistically significant indirect effect of childhood violence exposure on teen dating violence victimization through conduct disorder symptoms, but the indirect effects were not statistically significant through symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder or major depressive disorder. The current study broadens the understanding of risk factors for teen dating violence victimization and suggests that early violence exposure may result in the development of problem behaviors, which in turn ma)' lead to greater likelihood of victimization from dating partners. These findings are valuable in guiding treatment interventions and prevention programs for teen dating violence victimization, especially among low-income African Americans girls.
Adolescence is a time when youth make decisions, both good and bad, that have consequences for the rest of their lives. Some of these decisions put them at risk of lifelong health problems, injury, or death. The Institute of Medicine held three public workshops between 2008 and 2009 to provide a venue for researchers, health care providers, and community leaders to discuss strategies to improve adolescent health.
The ¿code of the street¿ theory presents an explanation for high rates of violence among African-Amer. (AA) adolescents. Observing life in a Phila. AA neighborhood, Anderson saw that economic disadvantage, separation from mainstream society, and racial discrim. encountered by some AA adolescents may lead to anti-social attitudes and to violent behavior. This report explores this thesis; researchers conducted repeated interviews with more than 800 AA adolescents (ages 10 to 15) and their primary caregivers. The researchers looked for developmental relationships between neighborhood and family characteristics, reported experiences with racial discrim., expressed street code values and self-reported violent behavior in young people. Illus.
TDV is a significant social problem that has adverse effects on teens' health-related behaviors and academic achievement. Several studies have examined the association between TDV and health-related behaviors, and TDV and school outcomes separately. However, only one qualitative study explored the relationship among TDV victimization, health-related behaviors, and school outcomes. There is a need for more studies that examine TDV victimization, health-related behaviors, and school outcomes factors interrelate among high school youth. The purpose of this study is to explore risk factors of TDV, examine the moderating effect of gender or ethnicity on the relationship between TDV victimization and school outcomes, and explore the mediating effect of health-related behaviors on the relationship between TDV victimization and school outcomes. Data from the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) was used. The CDC collects data biennially on risk behaviors among high school youth across the U.S. using the YRBS. This study used multiple imputation to handle missing data. Bivariate analyses included correlations, T-tests, Chi-squares, and logistic regression in SPSS to explore the relationships between the variables. Process MACRO 3.3 was used to conduct moderation and mediation analyses. The sample was comprised of 14,765 high school students. Most participants were 16 to 18 years and older (61.9%). 51.4% of the sample were female; 91.4 % of participants reported that they engaged in at least one or more sexual risk behaviors. Seventy percent of the teens were -others (i.e., White, Multi-racial, Asian, Alaskan-Native, American Indian, and Hawaiian), 19.4% were Black/African-American, and 10.6 % were Hispanic. Thirty-seven percent of participants reported difficulty concentrating in school. Participants reported average grades of 3.39 with the majority of students reporting As (28.9%) and Bs (29.7%) and having substance use of 1.12 on a scale of zero (no substance use) to four (higher levels of substance use). Results indicated that being a younger, female, non-Hispanic, and involving in sexual risk behaviors were risk factors for TDV victimization. Second, neither gender nor ethnicity moderated the relationship between TDV victimization and school outcomes. Finally, physical activity and sleep were mediators of the relationship between TDV victimization and school outcomes. These findings indicate that health-related behaviors are at the center of TDV victimization and academic achievement. School-based TDV prevention programs should include content on the importance of physical activity and sleep in their curricula when addressing healthy relationships. This study calls for multidisciplinary collaborations to address this social problem.
This continuation of a longitudinal study by Wilson and colleagues (2014), examined post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms as a mediating mechanism linking childhood violence exposure (CVE) and externalizing disorder symptoms to sexual risk behaviors (SRB) in a sample of 177 African American girls recruited from mental health clinics serving low-income communities in Chicago. The sample population completed a 2-year longitudinal study of HIV-risk behavior, which included five waves of data collection (ages 12-16 at baseline), as well as a sixth wave (ages 14-22), which assessed for lifetime trauma and victimization history. Bivariate analysis highlighted that the endorsement of PTSD symptoms was found to be correlated with childhood violence exposure, externalizing disorders, and sexual risk behaviors. However, a multivariate path analysis revealed that PTSD symptoms were not supported as a mediator of the relationship between CVE, externalizing disorders, and SRB as initially hypothesized. The resulting psychopathology associated with CVE may help to further understand and explain its relationship to SRB for African American girls in low-income, urban neighborhoods. Future research and interventions addressing the overlap between externalizing disorder symptoms and PTSD symptoms, specifically their comorbidity and similar presentation, may be an effective approach to reducing sexual risk behaviors for this at-risk population.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between feelings of hopelessness and school violence among African American youth. This was achieved by completing a quantitative study analyzing secondary data obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBS). The results revealed that feelings of hopelessness are more likely to be experienced by females than males. Variables such as being threatened at school, involvement with weapon carrying to school, and missing school because of feeling insecure had statistically significant relationships with youth's experience of hopelessness. The findings may be beneficial in promoting hopeful futures for youth by decreasing the involvement of school violence among adolescents, especially youth with limited family and community support.
Victims of teen dating violence (TDV) in the United States engage in risk behaviors that increase their vulnerability to ill health. Although teen dating violence affects millions of adolescents of diverse ethnic backgrounds, there is a higher prevalence of TDV among Blacks and Latinos. In order to develop effective interventions for diverse populations, it is critical to understand the risk behaviors associated with different victims of TDV. The purpose of this thesis is to determine whether there is a difference between the risk behaviors (alcohol abuse, illegal drug use and perilous sexual intercourse) engaged in by Black, Latino and White adolescent victims of TDV. The national 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) was the source of data. This thesis hypothesizes that there are different risk behaviors related to each ethnic group, and aims to provide information to support the development of culturally competent TDV interventions.
