This Article Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 0886260508314318v1 23/11/1555    most recent References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Aisenberg, E. Articles by Orozco-Figueroa, A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Aisenberg, E. Articles by Orozco-Figueroa, A. Pubmed/NCBI databases Medline Plus Health Information Hispanic-American Health Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

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

University of Washington, ginoa{at}u.washington.edu

Cecilia Ayón

University of Washington

Araceli Orozco-Figueroa

Family Court Assistance Program

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.

Key Words: community violence • adolescents' perception • PTSD • Latinos • African Americans

This version was published on November 1, 2008

Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Vol. 23, No. 11, 1555-1578 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0886260508314318


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?