Examining a Dual‐Process Model of Desensitization and Hypersensitization to Community Violence in African American Male Adolescents

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to examine a dual-process model of reactivity to community violence exposure in African American male adolescents from urban communities. The model focused on desensitization and hypersensitization effects as well as desensitization and hypersensitization as predictors of aggressive behavior. Participants were 133 African American male high school students, mean age = 15.17 years, SD = 0.96. Participants completed measures of exposure to community violence, depressive symptoms, hyperarousal symptoms, aggressive beliefs, and aggressive behaviors at two time points. Community violence exposure predicted changes in aggression, β = .25, p = .004, and physiological arousal, β = .22, p = .010, over time, but not aggressive beliefs. The curvilinear association between community violence exposure and changes in depression over time was not significant, β = .42, p = .083, but there was a significant linear association between the exposure to community violence (ECV) and changes in levels of depression over time, β = .21, p = .014. Results indicated a significant mediation effect for hyperarousal on the association between community violence exposure and aggressive behavior, B = 0.20, 95% CI = [0.04, 0.54]. Results showed support for physiological hypersensitization, with hypersensitization increasing the risk for aggressive behavior.

Making meaning of community violence among adolescents: Associations between exposure, pro‐violence attitudes and psychological symptoms

“…The preliminary results of the mediation analysis for pro‐violence attitude in relation to depressive symptoms were significant, suggestive of an indirect effect of meaning making on the relationship between community violence exposure and depression symptoms. These findings also offer an alternative narrative to previous conceptualization regarding desensitization (Gaylord‐Harden et al, 2017; Mrug et al 2016; Ng‐Mak et al, 2004). Nonsignificant associations between high levels of community violence exposure and depressive symptoms that have previously been proposed to be a process of emotional and cognitive desensitization, may instead be reflective of a deeper human drive to develop meaning of life experiences, particularly in the face of adversity and trauma.…”

From Apathy to Vigilance: Young Adolescents’ Reactions to the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville

“…Five students of color in this group said they did not actively discuss the Rally after hearing about it, while all students of color in the alarmed and fearful groups discussed what happened with family and friends. It is important to acknowledge that responses in this group may have also reflected a desensitization to racial violence, which has been documented among teens of color (Gaylord‐Harden, Bai, & Simic, 2017).…”

Measuring the biological embedding of racial trauma among Black Americans utilizing the RDoC approach

“…In a recent study by Phan, So, Thomas, and Gaylord-Harden (2020) exploring the cost benefits of these constructs, research findings indicated that self-reported hypervigilance among Black American male adolescents predicted decreases in witnessing violence, but not violent victimization one year later and self-reported physiological hyperarousal predicted decreases in violent victimization at high but not low levels of participant's self-reported physical aggression one year later. In consideration of these findings from a developmental framework, scholars have proposed that adaptive calibration models are useful strength-driven approaches for understanding mental health processes of trauma-exposed Black Americans (Del Giudice et al, 2011;Gaylord-Harden, Bai, & Simic, 2017;Gaylord-Harden et al, 2018).…”