Bridging Disciplinary Boundaries (January 11 - 14, 2007)

Purpose: Not only is juvenile exposure to violence one of the most injurious among developmental experiences, preventing and ameliorating the effects of exposure is seriously complicated by co-occurrence with other risk factors with reinforcing influences and common antecedents; e.g., poorer physical and mental health, life stress, and drug involvement.1 Advancing knowledge about the developmental impact of juvenile violence exposure has been constrained by limited: assessment of multiple forms of exposure, distinction between normative and high-risk samples, testing of relationships between differing exposure histories with co-occurring risk and protective factors, and longitudinal assessment of relationships across the critical developmental periods of adolescence and transition to young adulthood. The proposed paper will advance current knowledge by: 1) documenting violence exposure profiles among high-risk adolescents, 2) testing the hypothesis that a step-function relationship exists between no, single, and multiple exposures relative to higher risk and lower protective factor levels, and, 3) assessing whether these patterns of impairment and deficient protective factors carry forward into young adult functioning.

Methods: This sample (n=851) of high-risk adolescents was surveyed in high school (15 sites, multi-state) and again four years later. Approximately 45% are female, minority representation is roughly 60%, ages ranged from 15-18 at initial assessment; SES levels were generally low to moderate. Several well-established measures2 captured factors theorized to hold risk (emotional distress, level of stress, suicide risk, substance abuse) or protective (personal resources and social support resources) functions relative to healthy development.

Results: Approximately 78% reported having been exposed to one or more of 5 forms of violence. More than 50% each had seen family members: a) destroy others' things, b) hit someone in anger; 46.7% had been physically hurt by someone else; 19% had been physically abused; 9.2% had been sexually abused; and 54.4% had been exposed to more than one form of violence. MANOVA tests were used to assess differences for those with histories of no, one, or multiple forms of violence exposure for each set of risk and protective factors at both time points. All tests achieved significance at the .01 level, as did subsequent ANOVA for each of the risk and protective variables. Means were in the expected directions, with the exception of personal resource variables (self-esteem, personal control, coping style), which were equivalent across groups.

Implications: Confirmed hypotheses regarding high rates of exposure and multiple exposure outcomes highlight concerns related to shared etiological pathways and potentiating effects between violence exposure and the studied risk factors. These findings hold important implications for intervention programs--preventive or remedial—targeting mental health and problem functioning for youth. The paper will discuss ways that violence effects, unattended, are likely to dilute effectiveness of current interventions with high-risk adolescence, particularly for those with multiple or poly-victimization backgrounds.

1Clark, D. B. et al. (2003) Physical and sexual abuse, depression and alcohol use disorders in adolescents. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 69, 51-60.

2Thompson, E. et al. (2001) Evaluation of indicated suicide risk prevention for potential high school drop-outs. American Journal of Public Health, 91, 742-752.