Community violence and its physical health consequences are well known among youth living in urban settings. However, less is known about the cumulative effect of contextual and demographic risk factors on posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) among vulnerable youth. Longitudinal data (baseline, 9-month, 21-month) were analyzed to investigate…

Firearm injury is a significant public health concern among youth living in the United States. Youth with exposure to violence (ETV) are more susceptible to carrying and using a firearm. Few researchers, however, have examined psychological mechanisms undergirding the association between ETV and firearm aggression. Retaliatory attitudes have been…

Exposure to violence can lead to a dramatic increase in the likelihood of the development of a substance use disorder (SUD). Given the overlap between the two, substance use for survivors of violence, then, can be a coping mechanism to manage the traumatic effects of abuse and persistent use can evolve into a diagnosable SUD. This study was…

Given their significance to school violence, this study quantifies the association between bullying victimization and perceptions of safety separately for victimization where the type is not specified versus victimization that is physical in nature. Generalized liner mixed modeling was employed with 5,138 sixth- to eighth-grade students in 24…

This article examines the relationship between exposure to violence, fear of exposure to violence, and sexual risk among a sample of urban middle school youth. The sample included 911 seventh-grade students who completed self-report surveys. Approximately 20% of the sample reported at least one direct threat or injury with a weapon in the past 3…

This study examined patterns of association between experiencing 12 traumatic life events, resilience, and substance use at a conservative church-affiliated university. The authors used data (N = 278) from a Health Risk and Protective Factors Study that was conducted during the 2012 spring semester. Initial bivariate analysis indicated several…

Interventions aimed at preventing the important problem of gun injuries could be improved with an understanding of whether there are unique factors that place individuals at an increased risk of gun victimization. Much remains to be known about the victims of gun violence. The purpose of this article is to assess whether there are individual-level…

Adolescents engage in many risk-taking behaviors that have the potential to lead to injury. The school environment has a significant role in shaping adolescent behavior, and this study aimed to provide additional information about the benefits associated with connectedness to school. Early adolescents aged 13 to 15 years (N=509, 49% boys) were…

Increasingly, female victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) are charged with IPV perpetration and mandated by courts or child protective services to receive domestic violence services. A critical need exists for evidence-based interventions targeting the needs of this unique population, but such research is scarce. To address this gap, we…

Positive changes (posttraumatic growth [PTG]) and negative changes (posttraumatic depreciation [PTD]) were assessed using the PTGI-42 with persons reporting changes from a stressful event. PTG and PTD were uncorrelated, and PTG was much greater than PTD. PTG was positively related to disruption of core beliefs and recent deliberate rumination and…

The aims of this study were to investigate the rates of deliberate self-harm (DSH) behavior among an Italian adolescent sample, as well as to explore its clinical correlates. On a sample of 234 adolescents in Italian secondary schools (Mean age = 16.47; SD = 1.7) were assessed the DSH as well as externalizing symptoms (including both conduct…

This study examined the relationship between stressful life events, drug use, and self-reported violence perpetration among 293 Native Hawaiian, Samoan, and Filipino adolescents. Data were collected using semistructured interviews with students in three high schools in Hawai'i. Stressful life events were delineated into three categories:…

The authors identify the association of educational milestones obtained before and after spinal cord injury (SCI) with postinjury employment (PIE). Survey data were collected from 1,362 adults younger than 65, with traumatic SCI of at least 1 year duration who were not currently attending school. The sole outcome was obtaining PIE--whether the…

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been associated with stress, but few studies have examined the effect of natural disaster on IPV. In this study, the authors examine the relationship between experience of Hurricane Katrina and reported relationship aggression and violence in a cohort of 123 postpartum women. Hurricane experience is measured…

The authors determined whether lifetime prescription drug misuse (PDM) associated with increased risks for alcohol-related problems among 18- to 34-year-old, NESARC respondents. Among 8222 "ever-drinkers," 15.4% reported ever "misusing sedatives, tranquilizers, painkillers or stimulants ... as prescriptions or from indirect sources." Outcomes were…