TY - JOUR
T1 - Perceived neighborhood violence and crime, emotion regulation, and PTSD symptoms Among Justice-Involved, Urban African-American adolescent girls
AU - Sun, Shufang
AU - Crooks, Natasha
AU - Diclemente, Ralph J.
AU - Sales, Jessica M.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (5UR6PS000679). Findings and conclusions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Work by Shufang Sun was in part supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (T32MH078788) and affiliated by the Providence/Boston Center for AIDS Research (P30AI042853).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 American Psychological Association.
PY - 2020/9
Y1 - 2020/9
N2 - Objective: African-American adolescent girls in urban areas are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system, and they are also disproportionately impacted by neighborhood violence and crime (NVC), which has been shown to positively associate with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Guided by an ecological (individual X context) perspective, the present study aimed to examine the main and interactive effects of perceived NVC and emotion regulation (ER) strategies in a sample of justice-involved, urban African-American adolescent girls (n = 85) following their release from detention centers. Method: We investigated this research question longitudinally. Multiple linear regression models were conducted. PTSD symptoms at 3 months after release was used as the outcome variable, predicted by ER strategies, perceived NVC, and their interactions before release, controlling for PTSD symptoms and a brief screening of trauma events assessed beforen release. Simple slope analysis was used to probe significant interaction terms. Results: The main effects of perceived NVC and dysfunctional ER were significant. A significant interaction effect was found between perceived NVC and internal dysfunction ER at baseline to predict PTSD symptoms at 3 months after release. High levels of internal dysfunctional ER intensified the positive association of baseline perceived NVC and PTSD symptoms. Conclusions: Justice-involved African-American adolescent girls who report high NVC and use dysfunctional ER strategies are particularly vulnerable to the development of PTSD symptoms. Interventions with this population may benefit from targeting dysfunctional ER strategies to mitigate or prevent neighborhood violence related PTSD symptoms.
AB - Objective: African-American adolescent girls in urban areas are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system, and they are also disproportionately impacted by neighborhood violence and crime (NVC), which has been shown to positively associate with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Guided by an ecological (individual X context) perspective, the present study aimed to examine the main and interactive effects of perceived NVC and emotion regulation (ER) strategies in a sample of justice-involved, urban African-American adolescent girls (n = 85) following their release from detention centers. Method: We investigated this research question longitudinally. Multiple linear regression models were conducted. PTSD symptoms at 3 months after release was used as the outcome variable, predicted by ER strategies, perceived NVC, and their interactions before release, controlling for PTSD symptoms and a brief screening of trauma events assessed beforen release. Simple slope analysis was used to probe significant interaction terms. Results: The main effects of perceived NVC and dysfunctional ER were significant. A significant interaction effect was found between perceived NVC and internal dysfunction ER at baseline to predict PTSD symptoms at 3 months after release. High levels of internal dysfunctional ER intensified the positive association of baseline perceived NVC and PTSD symptoms. Conclusions: Justice-involved African-American adolescent girls who report high NVC and use dysfunctional ER strategies are particularly vulnerable to the development of PTSD symptoms. Interventions with this population may benefit from targeting dysfunctional ER strategies to mitigate or prevent neighborhood violence related PTSD symptoms.
KW - African American
KW - Emotion regulation
KW - Justice-involved girls
KW - Neighborhood violence
KW - Posttraumatic stress disorder
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85084432363&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85084432363&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1037/tra0000562
DO - 10.1037/tra0000562
M3 - Article
C2 - 32237877
AN - SCOPUS:85084432363
VL - 12
SP - 1
EP - 6
JO - Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy
JF - Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy
SN - 1942-9681
IS - 6
ER -