Citation

Heleniak C, King KM, McLaughlin KA, Monahan KC. J. Res. Adolesc. 2018; 28(1): 229-244.

Affiliation

University of Pittsburgh.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/jora.12328

PMID

28646545

Abstract

Although community violence is an established risk factor for youth aggression, less research has examined its relation with internalizing psychopathology. This study examined associations of community violence exposure with internalizing symptoms, and state and trait emotion dysregulation as mechanisms underlying these associations, in 287 adolescents aged 16-17 (45.6% male; 40.8% White). Community violence exposure was associated with internalizing symptoms, negative affect during peer evaluation, trait emotional reactivity, and infrequent problem solving. Multiple emotion dysregulation indices were also associated with internalizing symptoms. In simultaneous multiple mediator models, indirect effects of community violence on internalizing problems were significantly explained by state and trait emotion dysregulation.

FINDINGS implicate emotion dysregulation as one mechanism linking community violence exposure to adolescent internalizing symptoms.

© 2017 The Authors. Journal of Research on Adolescence © 2017 Society for Research on Adolescence.

Language: en