Community violence and internalizing mental health symptoms in adolescents: A systematic review.

Abstract

Purposes Mental disorders are responsible for 16% of the global burden of disease in adolescents. This review focuses on one contextual factor called community violence that can contribute to the development of mental disorders Objective To evaluate the impact of community violence on internalizing mental health symptoms in adolescents, to investigate whether different proximity to community violence (witness or victim) is associated with different risks and to identify whether gender, age, and race moderate this association. Methods systematic review of observational studies. The population includes adolescents (10-24 years), exposition involves individuals exposed to community violence and outcomes consist of internalizing mental health symptoms. Selection, extraction and quality assessment were performed independently by two researchers. Results A total of 2987 works were identified; after selection and extraction, 42 works remained. Higher exposure to community violence was positively associated with internalizing mental health symptoms. Being a witnessing is less harmful for mental health than being a victim. Age and race did not appear in the results as modifiers, but male gender and family support appear to be protective factors in some studies. Conclusion This review confirms the positive relationship between community violence and internalizing mental health symptoms in adolescents and provides relevant information that can direct public efforts to build policies in the prevention of both problems.

Current evidence and opportunities in child and adolescent public mental health: a research review

“…Whilst there is some evidence to support the effectiveness of interventions targeting the natural and social environment, evidence on pursuing special interests in community‐based clubs and organisations is uncertain. Further gaps in the public mental health literature include understanding the potential of interventions to address community violence and neighbourhood disorder (Latham et al., 2022; Lund et al., 2018; Miliauskas et al., 2022), neighbourhood‐level socioeconomic deprivation and inequality (Lund et al., 2018; Wilkinson & Pickett, 2019), air and noise pollution (Bernardina Dalla et al., 2022; Chandra et al., 2022; Essers et al., 2022), and scarcity of community spaces (Bell, Foley, Houghton, Maddrell, & Williams, 2018). For some of these there are existing intervention studies that demonstrate effectiveness for improving intermediate outcomes but have not measured mental health outcomes, highlighting measurement gaps in ‘downstream’ outcomes (Matjasko et al., 2012).…”

Longitudinal Associations Between Community Violence Exposure and Mental Health Problems in Inner-City Youth: Ethnicity and Gender Perspectives

“…Similarly, within urban ethnic minority youth, male adolescents are much more likely to experience CVE than female adolescents (Elsaesser & Voisin, 2015; Lambert et al, 2012). At the same time, while males are more often exposed to violence, females who experience trauma report more distress and impairment compared to traumatized males (Giaconia et al, 1995), are more often diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Alisic et al, 2014; Garza & Jovanovic, 2017), and are more likely to experience internalizing mental health problems (Miliauskas et al, 2022). Despite this, to the best of our knowledge, no previous study has explored the role of gender differences in mental health outcomes in response to community violence by ethnicity.…”

Community violence in neighborhoods and common mental disorders among Brazilian adolescents

“…For this reason, girls exposed to CV can be assumed to have a greater likelihood of presenting CMDs than boys. In relation to age, older adolescents tend to circulate more and to have more exposure to CV; on the other hand, they may also be more emotionally mature and have more psychological resources to overcome adversity, although reports in the literature con ict (11). However, considering CV exposure as an event with a high emotional impact, older adolescents can be hypothesized be more likely to develop CMDs than younger adolescents.…”

“…The in uence of CV on the mental health of adolescents has been the subject of two meta-analyses and three reviews (5,(8)(9)(10)(11). A clear relationship exists between increased exposure to CV and the development of mental disorders, including CMDs; however, the factors that may in uence this relationship are not yet clear.…”

“…Female sex appears to be a risk factor for internalizing disorders, and girls are more likely than boys to exhibit symptoms of depression and anxiety when exposed to the same degree of violence. Race and age also seem to in uence this relationship; however, few studies have evaluated these variables as effect modi ers of this relationship (11).…”