Exposure to community violence and upper respiratory illness in older adolescents

Wilson, William C.; Rosenthal, Beth Spenciner; Austin, Sue

doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2004.02.037

Cited by 12 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 30 publications

(45 reference statements)

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“…The SOS could be used to triage those in more dire need of, and more likely to benefit from, such efforts. For groups exposed to environmental insults, such as community violence (Wilson et al 2005), differences in PV scores might be particularly useful in identifying those most susceptible to the pathogens. In already vulnerable groups, such as persons recovering from addiction (Sinha 2008), variations in EL scores would be helpful in pinpointing those in danger of relapse.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress Overload: A New Approach to the Assessment of Stress

Amirkhan

2011

American J of Comm Psychol

156

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The link between stress and health has not received strong empirical support, possibly due to problems in the stress measures used. Here, the first wholly empirical development of a new "Stress Overload Scale" is described. A pool of 150 items was formed to reflect "overload", a common denominator in stress theories. Then, the results of five sequenced studies, conducted in heterogeneous community samples, were used to pare the item pool. Exploratory (n = 431) and confirmatory (n = 433) analyses revealed two factors (Event Load and Personal Vulnerability) corresponding to theoretical constructs; only the best factor markers were submitted to further construct validity (n = 310) and reliability tests (n = 342). The 24 strongest items were selected for the SOS, which demonstrated criterion validity in predicting who (n = 285) would become sick following a common stressor. The SOS is (1) psychometrically strong, especially in its validity relative to popular measures; (2) appropriate to community research, due to its brevity and fit to a broad demographic spectrum; (3) unique in its ability to cross-section individuals into risk categories. It should prove useful to community psychologists in determining etiology, diagnosing risk for pathology, and evaluating the efficacy of interventions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress Overload: A New Approach to the Assessment of Stress

Amirkhan

2011

American J of Comm Psychol

156

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“…Modified versions of this scale have been used in other studies investigating the effects of exposure to neighborhood violence on health. 17,23 For both types of questions participants responded by answering never, once or twice, a few times, or many times. Due to the nature of the primary study, an additional question was included which asked mothers how safe they felt allowing their children to play outside.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The use of these measures appears to vary by outcome, with studies exploring general health or physical activity tending to focus on perceptions of neighborhood safety, studies investigating mental health measuring exposure to violence, and multi-community studies using actual measures of crimes or disorder. 2,3,6,14,17,23 While the selective use of these measures seems to be reflective of a hypothesized relationship, researchers do not often articulate their reasons for choosing a certain measure of neighborhood violence.…”

Section: Measurement Of Neighborhood Violencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…21,22 Exposure to chronic stress has been thought to partially explain the increased prevalence of upper respiratory illness and asthma in neighborhoods with high levels of violence. 23,24 Overall, neighborhood violence has been related to poorer self-report of health in the United States, Australia, and Korea. [25][26][27] Importance of Mothers While the impact of neighborhood violence on all individuals is important, mothers play a critical role in protecting their children from the impact of neighborhood violence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Neighborhood Violence and its Association with Mothers’ Health: Assessing the Relative Importance of Perceived Safety and Exposure to Violence

Johnson

Solomon²,

Shields

et al. 2009

J Urban Health

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This paper presents a cross-sectional study examining the influence of neighborhood violence on multiple aspects of mothers' health. While the influence of neighborhood violence on health is important to understand for all populations, mothers are especially important as they play a key role in protecting their children from the consequences of violence. Three hundred and ninety-two Baltimore City mothers of children 5 years and younger completed a self-administered survey that included questions about perceptions of their safety as well as their personal experiences with neighborhood violence. Separate models were run to compare the relationship between each measurement of neighborhood violence and five diverse health-related determinants and outcomes: self-reported health status, smoking, exercise, average hours of sleep a night, and sleep interruption. Controlling for mother's age, child's age, maternal education, and marital status, mothers with high exposure to neighborhood violence were twice as likely to report poorer health, smoking, never exercising, and poor sleep habits. Maternal perception of neighborhood safety was not related to any of the assessed health-related determinants and outcomes. This study emphasizes the importance of measuring exposure to neighborhood violence rather than solely assessing perceived safety. Neighborhood violence was a common experience for mothers in this urban sample, and should be considered by health professionals in trying to understand and intervene to improve the health of mothers and their children.

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“…We chose this questionnaire because it assesses illnesses commonly included in previous studies on this issue (e.g., colds and flu) and distinguishes between frequency and recency of these illnesses, which some researchers have suggested may be an important distinction (Jones, 2018). Each woman also completed a version of Wilson et al's (2005) Upper Respiratory Illness Scale, which assesses the frequency with which participants had suffered from ten symptoms of upper respiratory illness (e.g.…”

Section: Measuring Facial Colorationmentioning

confidence: 99%