Citation

Yearwood K, Vliegen N, Chau C, Corveleyn J, Luyten P. J. Adolesc. 2019; 72: 14-22.

Affiliation

Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Tiensestraat 102 - Pobox 3720, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, UCL (University College London), 1-19 Torrington Place, London WC1E 7HB, UK.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.adolescence.2019.02.001

PMID

30754015

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: This study examined the longitudinal associations between environmental adversity (defined in terms of exposure to violence in the neighborhood, school, and media), complex trauma (operationalized as experiences of abuse and neglect), and adolescents' internalizing and externalizing symptoms.

METHODS: Using a cross-lagged panel research design, we investigated the moderating role of peer support in these relationships in a sample of 644 adolescents from a severely disadvantaged district of Lima, Peru, who were followed up in a 1-year prospective study.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: We found significant unidirectional dynamic relations, where both types of adversity were associated with higher levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Peer support significantly moderated this effect, but only for complex trauma, in that higher levels of peer support were associated with a decreased impact of complex trauma on internalizing and externalizing symptoms. These findings highlight the importance of social relations and the quality of peer relations in particular as factors that may mitigate the risk of early exposure to trauma.

Copyright © 2019 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Complex trauma; Early adversity; Environmental adversity; Externalizing symptoms; Internalizing symptoms; Peer support