Depression and Neighborhood Violence among Children and Early Adolescents in Medellin, Colombia

Abstract

Violence is considered one of the most important public health problems among Latino countries. In Colombia, approximately 41% of Medellin's inhabitants have witnessed a homicide, 75% have witnessed an aggressive incident, and 40% have been victims of other types of violent incidents. Despite increased national/international attention paid to the effects of neighborhood violence exposure on childhood depression, little is still known about this phenomenon in non-clinical samples. This study examined neighborhood violence exposure and depression (negative mood, interpersonal problems, ineffectiveness, anhedonia, and negative self-esteem) among N = 320 8-12 years old youth. Data were collected from public schools in Medellin during 2009. Kovacs' Children's Depression Inventory was used to assess depression; neighborhood violence exposure was measured using Medellin's Human Rights report on high-low violence rates neighborhoods where participants lived and/or attended school. Results show that 26 children reported depressive symptoms (a prevalence of 8.9 % in the total sample). Among early adolescents (boys and girls), exposure to higher levels of violence was associated with greater ineffectiveness. Gender did not moderate the relationship between violence exposure and depression subscales. Results raise awareness about the importance to further exploring other factors related to neighborhood violence exposure and depression (e.g., developmental stage, gender).

Parenting Styles, Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms in Child/Adolescent

“…In keeping with previous research (Abello et al, 2014;Argumedos et al, 2014;Cuevas & Castro, 2009;Esparza & Rodríguez, 2009;Velez-Gomez et al, 2013;Vinaccia et al, 2006), our study found no statistically significant correlation between students age and symptoms of youth reported depression or anxiety. However, contrary to former studies (Castilla Puentes et al, 2013;Romero-Acosta et al, 2010;Romero-Acosta et al, 2014), where sex differences were found in Colombian youth such that girls reported more anxiety symptoms than boys, this study found boys to be more anxious.…”

“…From research that has employed screening instruments (as opposed to diagnostic methods), the prevalence of internalizing symptoms in Colombian children has been estimated to be between 8.9% and 26.1% (Abello et al, 2014;Velez-Gomez et al, 2013;Vinaccia et al, 2006). Using similar methods, other studies have estimated the prevalence of anxiety symptoms to be between 28.3% and 71.1% (Ospina-Ospina et al, 2011;Pérez Vásquez et al, 2016).…”

Exposure to violence: associations with psychiatric disorders in Brazilian youth

“…Urban violence is considered one of the most important public health problems in Latino countries 11. However, urban violence affects the population unequally; its impact varies by gender, ethnicity, age and social space 12.…”

Increase of perceived frequency of neighborhood domestic violence is associated with increase of women's depression symptoms in a nationally representative longitudinal study in South Africa

“… Studies that examine the effects of neighborhood characteristics on mental health show that perceptions of general neighborhood violence are associated with depression across diverse populations (Clark et al, 2008; Velez-Gomez et al, 2013; Wilson-Genderson & Pruchno, 2013). However, to our knowledge, none have examined the specific effect of perceived frequency of neighborhood domestic violence (PFNDV) on residents' mental health, despite knowledge that domestic violence is a potent predictor of depression at the level of the individual.…”