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Citation |
Ramos-Salamanca L, Zax A, Gudiño OG. Sch. Ment. Health 2022; 14(3): 598-607. |
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Copyright |
(Copyright © 2022, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group) |
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DOI |
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PMID |
unavailable |
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Abstract |
The Latinx population is currently the largest ethnic minority group in the USA. Moreover, studies demonstrate that Latinx youth are at a higher risk for exposure to community violence and for negative school outcomes compared to their non-Latinx white peers. Though more attention has been devoted to understanding negative school outcomes, there is surprisingly little empirical data directly testing associations between community violence and academic outcomes. Additionally, little research explores potential moderators, such as youth coping mechanisms, that may buffer the negative effects of community violence on academic outcomes in Latinx adolescents. In the current study, we examine associations between exposure to community violence, posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, coping, and academic achievement in a sample of 168 Latinx adolescents (age range = 11-15, 56.2% girls). We hypothesized that (a) exposure to community violence is negatively associated with academic achievement, (b) Active Coping is positively associated with academic achievement, and (c) Avoidant Coping is negatively associated with academic achievement. We also hypothesized that coping would moderate associations between violence exposure and academic outcomes, with Active Coping expected to be a protective factor and Avoidant Coping expected to be a risk factor. In line with our hypotheses, bivariate results demonstrate that violence exposure and posttraumatic stress symptoms are negatively associated with grade point average (GPA). Multivariate analyses controlling for baseline GPA, however, revealed that only youth age and Active Coping were independently associated with GPA. Language: en |
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Keywords |
Academic achievement; Adolescents; Community violence; Coping; Latinx |