Citation

Mitchell SJ, Lewin A, Horn IB, Valentine D, Sanders-Phillips K, Joseph JG. Soc. Sci. Med. 2010; 70(4): 526-533.

Affiliation

Children's National Medical Center, Washington, DC, United States.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.10.048

PMID

19932932

PMCID

PMC2853478

Abstract

Urban, minority, adolescent mothers are particularly vulnerable to violence exposure, which may increase their children's developmental risk through maternal depression and negative parenting. The current study tests a conceptual model of the effects of community and contextual violence exposure on the mental health and parenting of young, African-American mothers living in Washington, DC. A path analysis revealed significant direct effects of witnessed and experienced violence on mothers' depressive symptoms and general aggression. Experiences of discrimination were also associated with increased depressive symptoms. Moreover, there were significant indirect effects of mothers' violence exposure on disciplinary practices through depression and aggression. These findings highlight the range of violence young African-American mothers are exposed to and how these experiences affect their mental health, particularly depressive symptoms, and thus disciplinary practices.

Language: en