Adolescent Girls’ Offending and Health-Risking Sexual Behavior: The Predictive Role of Trauma

• Published in: Child maltreatment Vol. 11; no. 4; pp. 346 - 353
• Main Authors: Smith, Dana K., Leve, Leslie D., Chamberlain, Patricia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thousand Oaks, CA Sage Publications 01.11.2006; Sage; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescent girls; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Anxiety disorders. Neuroses; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child Abuse - statistics & numerical data; Delinquency; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; Female; Females; Girls; Health Behavior; Health problems; Health risks; Humans; Juvenile delinquency; Juvenile Delinquency - statistics & numerical data; Juvenile offenders; Life Change Events; Long term; Medical sciences; Offending; Physical Examination; Post-traumatic stress disorder; Predictions; Predictors; Prospective Studies; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Risk behaviour; Risk-Taking; Sex offenders; Sexual behavior; Sexual Behavior - psychology; Sexual behaviour; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - diagnosis; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - epidemiology; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - psychology; Teenagers; Trauma; Traumatic incidents; Traumatic life events; Victimology; trauma; PTSD; conduct problems; adolescent girls; Human; Posttraumatic syndrome; Health; Anxiety disorder; Sexual behavior; Prediction; Risk taking; Victimology; Trauma; Stress; Juvenile delinquency; Adolescent; Female; Sexual abuse; Social behavior disorder; Antecedent
• ISSN: 1077-5595; 1552-6119
• DOI: 10.1177/1077559506291950

Several studies have highlighted high levels of risk for girls who have been exposed to traumatic experiences, but little is known about the exact relationship between traumatic experiences and problems with delinquency and health-risking sexual behavior (e.g., precipitory and/or exacerbatory roles). However, numerous short- and long-term detrimental effects have been linked to trauma, delinquency, and health-risking sexual behavior. The utility of diagnostic and experiential trauma measures in predicting the greatest risk for poor outcomes for delinquent girls was examined in this study. Results indicate that the experiential measures of trauma (cumulative and composite trauma scores) significantly predicted adolescent offending and adolescent health-risking sexual behavior, whereas the diagnostic measures of trauma (full and partial diagnostic criteria) did not.