TY - JOUR
T1 - Exposure to Gun Violence
T2 - Associations with Anxiety, Depressive Symptoms, and Aggression among Male Juvenile Offenders
AU - Shulman, Elizabeth P.
AU - Beardslee, Jordan
AU - Fine, Adam
AU - Frick, Paul J.
AU - Steinberg, Laurence
AU - Cauffman, Elizabeth
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention [2005-JK-FX-K001]; The Fudge Family Foundation; The County of Orange; William T. Grant Foundation.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Society of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Objective: To examine whether at-risk male youth experience increases in anxiety, depressive symptoms, and aggression during years when they are exposed to gun violence, adjusting for relevant covariates. Method: Participants were 1,216 male, justice-involved adolescents who were recently arrested for the first time for a moderate offense. They were interviewed 9 times over 5 years. Fixed effects (within-individual) regression models were used to estimate concurrent associations between exposure to gun violence and three outcomes: depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and aggression (both overall and separately for proactive and reactive aggression). The reverse direction (anxiety, depressive symptoms, and aggression predicting gun violence exposure) was also modeled. Results: After controlling for covariates, exposure to gun violence was significantly associated with increases in reactive aggression and, to a lesser extent, increases in proactive aggression. In addition, gun violence exposure was associated with increased anxiety but not depressive symptoms. We found no support for the reverse direction. Conclusions: At-risk males experienced significant increases in anxiety and aggression (particularly reactive aggression) during years when they are exposed to gun violence, even after accounting for several potential confounding factors. The greater impact on reactive aggression suggests that exposure to gun violence may affect self-regulation and/or social information processing. The analyses shed light on the less-visible damage wrought by gun violence and underscore the importance of mental health screening and treatment for youth who have been exposed to violence–especially gun violence–both to assist individual youths and to disrupt cycles of violence.
AB - Objective: To examine whether at-risk male youth experience increases in anxiety, depressive symptoms, and aggression during years when they are exposed to gun violence, adjusting for relevant covariates. Method: Participants were 1,216 male, justice-involved adolescents who were recently arrested for the first time for a moderate offense. They were interviewed 9 times over 5 years. Fixed effects (within-individual) regression models were used to estimate concurrent associations between exposure to gun violence and three outcomes: depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and aggression (both overall and separately for proactive and reactive aggression). The reverse direction (anxiety, depressive symptoms, and aggression predicting gun violence exposure) was also modeled. Results: After controlling for covariates, exposure to gun violence was significantly associated with increases in reactive aggression and, to a lesser extent, increases in proactive aggression. In addition, gun violence exposure was associated with increased anxiety but not depressive symptoms. We found no support for the reverse direction. Conclusions: At-risk males experienced significant increases in anxiety and aggression (particularly reactive aggression) during years when they are exposed to gun violence, even after accounting for several potential confounding factors. The greater impact on reactive aggression suggests that exposure to gun violence may affect self-regulation and/or social information processing. The analyses shed light on the less-visible damage wrought by gun violence and underscore the importance of mental health screening and treatment for youth who have been exposed to violence–especially gun violence–both to assist individual youths and to disrupt cycles of violence.
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U2 - 10.1080/15374416.2021.1888742
DO - 10.1080/15374416.2021.1888742
M3 - Article
C2 - 33830838
AN - SCOPUS:85104062476
SN - 1537-4416
VL - 50
SP - 353
EP - 366
JO - Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology
JF - Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology
IS - 3
ER -