Department of Sociology, The Ohio State University, Townsand Hall, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
J Youth Adolesc. 2009 Mar;38(3):269-86. doi: 10.1007/s10964-008-9343-2. Epub 2008 Oct 17.
Exposure to violence is a serious public health concern that compromises adolescents by affecting their behavior and psychological well-being. The current study advances knowledge about the consequences of exposure to violence in adolescence by applying a life course perspective to evaluate the developmental implications of adolescents' exposure to violence. In particular, drawing on a sample of 11,949 school-aged adolescents in the U.S., we examine whether exposure to violence in adolescence is associated with precocious role exits that some adolescents experience. Exposure to violence is conceptualized as including both direct (i.e., experiencing physical victimization) and indirect exposure (i.e., witnessing others' victimization). Three types of direct exposure to violence are examined: street, intimate partner, and family victimization, as well as four types of indirect exposure including: street, peer, and school violence as well as exposure to family/friend suicide. Using three waves of longitudinal data from the Add Health Study, we find that exposure to violence is associated with greater risks of running away from home, dropping out of high school, having a child, attempting suicide, and coming into contact with the criminal justice system in later adolescence. In addition, risks depend upon the relational context in which the exposure to violence occurred, risks increase with greater exposure to violence, and risks are, for the most part, highest for those youth exposed to both indirect and direct violence in adolescence.
暴力暴露是一个严重的公共卫生问题，它通过影响青少年的行为和心理健康来损害他们。本研究通过应用生命历程的视角来评估青少年暴露于暴力的发展意义，从而深入了解青少年暴露于暴力的后果。具体来说，我们利用美国 11949 名学龄青少年的样本，考察了青少年时期暴露于暴力是否与一些青少年经历的过早角色退出有关。暴力暴露被定义为包括直接（即遭受身体伤害）和间接暴露（即目睹他人受到伤害）。研究考察了三种直接暴露于暴力的类型：街头、亲密伴侣和家庭受害，以及四种间接暴露的类型，包括：街头、同伴和学校暴力以及暴露于家庭/朋友自杀。利用来自“青年纵向研究”的三波纵向数据，我们发现，暴力暴露与离家出走、高中辍学、生孩子、自杀未遂以及在青少年后期接触刑事司法系统的风险增加有关。此外，风险取决于暴力暴露发生的关系背景，随着暴力暴露的增加，风险也会增加，而对于那些在青少年时期同时暴露于间接和直接暴力的年轻人来说，风险最高。
