Exposed:Revealing Patterns of Community Violence Exposure and Psychological Well-Being Among Urban Youth.

Community Violence Exposure;Urban Youth;Internalizing;Externalizing;Desensitization;Psychology;Social Sciences;Psychology

Kennedy, Traci M.Olson, Sheryl L. ;

University of Michigan

关键词: Community Violence Exposure;    Urban Youth;    Internalizing;    Externalizing;    Desensitization;    Psychology;    Social Sciences;    Psychology;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/99800/tracimk_2.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

Community violence exposure (CVE) is a major environmental stressor that threatens the psychological well-being of many youth living in American cities. Although research to date has documented the many psychosocial correlates of CVE among youth of all ages, issues regarding the definition and measurement of CVE limit our complete understanding of precisely how exposure to various forms of community violence relates to youths’ well-being. This study uses longitudinal data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) to investigate relations between CVE and both internalizing and externalizing symptoms among 4,149 youth ages 3 to 15 at baseline. In particular, this study examines patterns of emotional desensitization to CVE, the differential impact of chronic versus isolated CVE, the moderating roles of age and gender in these patterns, and the impact of CVE severity on youths’ internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Overwhelmingly, results provided support for the hypothesis that youths become emotionally desensitized to violence, as evidenced by quadratic associations between CVE and internalizing symptoms both over youths’ lifetimes and a one-year period. Quadratic associations between CVE and externalizing symptoms also emerged in some cases, but tended to be weaker than those for internalizing symptoms. Whereas linear associations were greater among older youth than younger youth, neither cohort nor gender moderated the quadratic associations between CVE and well-being. Isolated CVE was not distinctly associated with internalizing or externalizing symptoms compared with more chronic exposure, and less severe CVE was more strongly associated with well-being than more severe CVE. These findings are integrated with evidence for desensitization. Further, both theoretical and practical implications of the findings are considered, and next steps for research are offered.