@article{ref1,
title="Age at first exposure to violence and later mental health outcomes: a sex-disaggregated, multi-country analysis in sub-Saharan Africa",
journal="Child abuse and neglect",
year="2022",
author="Seff, Ilana and Rodriguez, Deidi Olaya and Meinhart, Melissa and Colarelli, Jonathan and Vahedi, Luissa and Stark, Lindsay",
volume="125",
number="",
pages="e105509-e105509",
abstract="BACKGROUND: A growing body of research has begun examining the relationship between a child's age at first exposure to violence and outcomes of mental wellbeing, though no studies have assessed these relationships in the sub-Saharan African (SSA) region. <br><br>OBJECTIVE: Given known gender and sex differences in violence exposure and mental health symptomology, this study conducts a multi-country, gender-stratified analysis of the relationship between age at first incident of physical violence and outcomes of wellbeing in SSA. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: This study uses data from the Violence Against Children Surveys on 13-24-year-old males and females in five SSA countries (Kenya (2010), Malawi (2013), Nigeria (2014), Tanzania (2009), and Uganda (2015)). <br><br>METHODS: The predictor of interest is a categorical variable indicating whether a respondent's first exposure to physical violence took place from 0 to 5, 6-11, 12 and older, or never. Outcomes of interest include: sadness, anxiety, suicide ideation, smoking, drug use, and alcohol use. Employing both country-specific and pooled data, gender-stratified, multiple logistic regressions are used to estimate the effect of age at first exposure to physical violence on the six outcomes of interest. <br><br>RESULTS: Findings show significant variation across countries in age at first exposure to physical violence. For females, findings reveal no association between age at first exposure and outcomes of wellbeing; all periods were equally associated with poor outcomes. For males, results show increased likelihood of anxiety, suicide ideation, and alcohol use when the first violence exposure occurred from 0 to 5 years. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: This study advances the literature on gender and sex differences in mental health symptomology, suggesting that boys and girls may exhibit different symptomology in response to comparable exposures to violence.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0145-2134",
doi="10.1016/j.chiabu.2022.105509",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2022.105509"
}