%0 Journal Article %T Mental health, empowerment, and violence against young women in lower-income countries: a review of reviews %J Aggression and violent behavior %D 2019 %A Grose, Rose Grace %A Roof, Katherine A. %A Semenza, Daniel C. %A Leroux, Ximena %A Yount, Kathryn M. %V 46 %N %P 25-36 %X Gender-based violence (GBV) against women is a pervasive global human-rights violation. This systematic review of reviews synthesized research about the mental health and empowerment outcomes of GBV for adolescent girls and young women (ages 10-24) in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). GBV exposures included child maltreatment, female genital mutilation/cutting, child marriage, intimate partner violence (IPV), and non-partner sexual violence. PubMed and PsycINFO searches were supplemented with expert consultations and searches of reference lists and key organizational websites. Sixteen systematic reviews were quality rated and summarized. Study-level data were extracted from the five highest quality reviews (N = 25 unique studies) and results from 41 samples were synthesized. Empowerment studies were too few to synthesize. Reviews and extracted studies were predominantly from Asia and Africa and addressed child maltreatment, IPV, and non-partner sexual violence. We included combined samples with adolescent girls and adult women (ages 9-60 years) and found consistent associations between GBV and composite measures of mental health, suicidal ideation and behavior, and symptoms of depression, posttraumatic stress, and eating disorders.

FINDINGS suggest that GBV must be addressed to cultivate mental health for adolescent girls and young women globally.

Language: en

%G en %I Elsevier Publishing %@ 1359-1789 %U http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2019.01.007