Effects of Exposure to Community Violence and Family Violence on School Functioning Problems among Urban Youth: The Potential Mediating Role of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms

Tia M Mcgill,Mary Lou Kelley,Melissa Cowart-Osborne,Monique Leblanc,Shannon R Self-Brown,Ashwini Tiwari,Betty S Lai

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2014.00008

Abstract

Adolescents who are exposed to violence during childhood are at an increased risk for developing posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms. The literature suggests that violence exposure might also have negative effects on school functioning, and that PTS might serve as a potential mediator in this association. The purpose of the current study was to replicate and extend prior research by examining PTS symptoms as a mediator of the relationship between two types of violence exposure and school functioning problems among adolescent youth from an urban setting. Participants included a sample of 121 junior high and high school students (M = 15 years; range = 13–16 years; 60 males, 61 females) within high-crime neighborhoods. Consistent with our hypotheses, community violence and family violence were associated with PTS symptoms and school functioning problems. Our data suggest that community and family violence were indirectly related to school functioning problems through PTS symptoms. Findings from this study demonstrate that PTS symptoms potentially mediate the relationship between violence exposure and school functioning problems across two settings (community and home). Future research should further examine protective factors that can prevent youth violence exposure as well as negative outcomes related to violence.

Highlights

Adolescent violence exposure and victimization, in the community and home, are a major public health concern in the United States
Student gender was positively and significantly correlated with adolescent posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms indicating that females were rated as experiencing higher levels of PTS symptomatology
Gender was included as a covariate of PTS symptoms in study analyses, and parent education level was included as a covariate for family violence exposure in study analyses

Summary

Introduction

Adolescent violence exposure and victimization, in the community and home, are a major public health concern in the United States. During 2010, approximately 1.2 million children aged 12–17 years lived in a household in which a violent crime against a youth occurred during that year [2, 3]. Adolescents living in urban communities, marked by poverty, crime, and drug-related activities, are often at increased risk for violence exposure and victimization, including homicides, assaults, and physical altercations [4,5,6,7]. Community violence studies indicate that approximately 3–19% of youth have been found to be at risk for developing PTS [12,13,14]. In family violence studies, approximately 13–50% of exposed youth have been found to be at risk for PTS [15,16,17,18,19,20]

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Conclusion