Adolescent Violence Exposure and Internalizing and Externalizing Outcomes

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is an application for a training grant for which the main goal is to increase the research proficiency of the applicant, and prepare her to become an independent researcher with expertise in the areas of community violence exposure and African American mental health. Training and scholarship in these areas is important because African American youth are more likely to witness and be victims of community violence exposure, possibly due to the overrepresentation of African Americans in low income neighborhoods. The intensity and severity of the violent events that occur in poorer neighborhoods affects youth in these areas at disproportionate rates and places African American adolescents at a greater risk for many of the negative effects associated with violence exposure, including academic, social, and psychological difficulties. The specific aims for the proposed research are: 1) to expand my knowledge of the development of ethnic minority urban adolescents, with a focus on youth internalizing and externalizing outcomes associated with chronic experiences with violence; 2) to examine factors associated with resilience for youth exposed to violence, and 3) to expand my knowledge of and proficiency with statistical methods and research designs appropriate for studying the effects of violence exposure and perceived neighborhood violence on adolescent mental health. This proposal is for secondary analysis of an existing dataset comprised of an epidemiologically-defined community sample of 585 African American adolescents (53.2% male), who were first assessed during first grade, collected for 5R01MH057005-09, "Periodic Follow Up of Two Preventative Trials" (P.I.: Nicholas lalongo). Participants were assessed at regular intervals from elementary school through adolescence resulting in varying sample sizes (Table 1). Youth reported about experiences with violence, and behavioral adjustment also was assessed. Implications for assessment and intervention with African American youth in high risk environments will be examined.