Community violence increasingly forms part of the daily lives of children and youth, particularly in large cities. Exposure to this type of violence has been associated with the development of various behavioral and emotional problems, such as aggressive and delinquent behaviors, anxiety and depression. This study aims to explore the exposure of socioeconomically vulnerable Uruguayan adolescents to community violence and its perceived impact, and investigate its relationship with internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. We obtained a sample of 101 adolescents aged 13 to 18 years, residing in the city of Montevideo, attending to 3 socio-educational centers purposefully selected and clustered. The Hopkins Symptom Checklist for adolescents, a scale for community violence and a sociodemographic questionnaire were administered. We found that 84.2% of our sample had been exposed to community violence. The perceived impact of exposure appeared as a predictor of psychological problems, together with the variable age. The results suggest that several mechanisms explain the different kinds of psychological problems investigated. Implications for intervention and prevention were discussed.
Keywords:
adolescence, trauma, mental health, poverty, community violence
Mels, C., & Fernández, L. (2015). Community violence in socioeconomically disadvantaged adolescents: Exposure, perceived impact, and psychological consequences. Revista De Psicología, 24(1). https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-0581.2015.36863
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