The Role of Young Adolescents' Perception in Understanding the Severity of Exposure to Community Violence and PTSD

• Published in: Journal of interpersonal violence Vol. 23; no. 11; pp. 1555 - 1578
• Main Authors: Aisenberg, Eugene, Ayón, Cecilia, Orozco-Figueroa, Araceli
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.11.2008; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Adolescents; African Americans; African Americans - psychology; African Americans - statistics & numerical data; Aggression; At Risk Persons; California; Child; Child abuse & neglect; Child Behavior - psychology; Children; Communities; Correlation; Early Adolescents; Female; Grade 6; Grade 7; Grade 8; Hispanic Americans; Hispanic Americans - psychology; Hispanic Americans - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Low Income Groups; Male; Middle School Students; Neighborhoods; Perceptions; Post traumatic stress disorder; Posttraumatic Stress Disorder; Poverty; Regression Analysis; Residence Characteristics; Severity (of Disability); Severity of Illness Index; Social Conditions; Social Support; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - epidemiology; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - psychology; Teenagers; United States - epidemiology; Urban Areas; Urban Population - statistics & numerical data; Violence; Violence - psychology; Violence - statistics & numerical data; California; United States; PTSD; adolescents' perception; African Americans; community violence; Latinos
• ISSN: 0886-2605; 1552-6518
• DOI: 10.1177/0886260508314318

This study seeks to (a) identify and measure the lifetime exposure to community violence of 137 African American and Latino middle school students from a low income neighborhood and apply numerical weights to each violent event; (b) examine the relationship between the objective severity of child self reported violence exposure and the child's subjective perception of the most bothersome event; and (c) examine the relationship between child's exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Results highlight that students' designation of their most bothersome exposure to community violence did not correspond to the most severe violent event they experienced. Regression analyses reveal the weight of the most severe event explains a larger percentage of the variance in PTSD compared with the relationship to victim, level of exposure, weight of the most bothersome exposure, and cumulative weight of all exposure. This study underscores the importance of assessing a child's perception of violent events.