Citation

Elze DE, Stiffman AR, Doré P. Int. J. Adolesc. Med. Health 1999; 11(3-4): 221-255.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, Freund Publishing)

DOI

10.1515/IJAMH.1999.11.3-4.221

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Highly structured interviews were conducted with 792 adolescents, ages 14 to 18, from St. Louis, Missouri, who received services from gateway sectors (child welfare, education, juvenile justice, and primary health care). These youths were exposed to high rates of violence in their families, neighborhoods, and schools, all of which were associated with suicidality and symptoms of major mental health disorders (i.e., depression, conduct disorder, substance abuse or dependence, and post-traumatic stress). Multivariate analyses demonstrated that personal victimization was associated with each of the assessed mental health problems. Further, intrafamilial violence was a significant predictor of all problems except for suicidality. Witnessing a violent act was associated with all the externalizing problems, as well as with depression and posttraumatic stress symptoms. Participation in structured activities moderated the relationships between intrafamilial violence and each of the externalizing problems.

Language: en

Keywords

adolescent; Adolescents; adult; article; attention deficit disorder; child welfare; community; depression; education; family; family violence; female; human; interview; justice; juvenile; major clinical study; male; mental disease; mental health; Mental health; multivariate analysis; posttraumatic stress disorder; primary health care; Risk behaviors; school; substance abuse; suicide; violence; Violence