Exposure to violence in multiple contexts and post-traumatic stress symptoms: A study with adolescents

Journal title MALTRATTAMENTO E ABUSO ALL’INFANZIA
Author/s Gaetana Affuso, Dario Bacchini, Serena Aquilar, Grazia De Angelis, Maria Concetta Miranda
Publishing Year 2014 Issue 2014/2
Language Italian Pages 21 P. 13-33 File size 115 KB
DOI 10.3280/MAL2014-002002
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Recent research studies have shown the association between exposure to violence and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTS). The aim of this study was to investigate the nature of this relationship, examining the specific association between the different contexts of violence (home, school, neighborhood, media) and the status of violence (victim, witness), and PTS symptoms. Moreover we evaluated the cumulative effects of the simultaneous exposure to violence in multiple contexts. The study involved 725 adolescents, attending the first year of secondary school. Results revealed that: i) increasing of exposure to violence leads to a corresponding heightened PTS symptoms; ii) all violent contexts, except those related to media, are significantly and positively associated with PTS symptoms; iii) both being victim and being witness of violence were significantly associated with PTS symptoms; iv) there was a response-dose effect of the exposure to multiple sources of violence on PTS symptoms

Keywords: Adolescence, community violence, family violence, school violence, posttraumatic stress.

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Gaetana Affuso, Dario Bacchini, Serena Aquilar, Grazia De Angelis, Maria Concetta Miranda, Esposizione alla violenza in contesti multipli e sintomi post-traumatici da stress: uno studio con adolescenti in "MALTRATTAMENTO E ABUSO ALL’INFANZIA" 2/2014, pp 13-33, DOI: 10.3280/MAL2014-002002