Adolescents' Psychological Response to the Experience of Community Interpersonal Violence: A Cross-National and a Cross-Cultural Comparison

• Published in: Adolescence 2006-09, Vol.41 (163), p.417-433
• Main Authors: Rosenthal, Beth Spenciner, Wilson, W. Cody
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acculturation; Adaptation, Psychological; Adolescent; Adolescents; African American Students; Analysis; Anxiety; Behavior; Biological and medical sciences; Black American people; Black or African American; Black People - ethnology; Black People - psychology; Caribbean Cultural Groups; College Freshmen; College Students; Communities; Community violence; Correlation; Crime Victims - psychology; Cross Cultural Studies; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Cross-Sectional Studies; Cultural Differences; Developmental psychology; Emigration and Immigration; Emotional Response; Female; Foreign Countries; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hispanic or Latino - ethnology; Hispanic or Latino - psychology; Humans; Immigrants; Immigration; Independent sample; Interpersonal relations in adolescence; Jamaica; Jamaica (Kingston); Jamaica - ethnology; Jamaican people; Male; Medical research; Medical sciences; Meta Analysis; New York; New York City; New York City, New York; Personality Inventory; Place of Residence; Psychological aspects; Psychological Distress; Psychological Patterns; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Residence Characteristics; Social Environment; Social psychiatry. Ethnopsychiatry; Sociocultural environment; Statistics as Topic; Stress; Stress Disorders, Traumatic - diagnosis; Stress Disorders, Traumatic - ethnology; Stress Disorders, Traumatic - psychology; Stress Variables; Studies; Trauma; Urban Areas; Urban Population; Variables; Violence; Violence - ethnology; Violence - psychology; Young people; Youth violence
• ISSN: 0001-8449

A comparative cross-national study investigating the level of experience with community interpersonal violence, level of psychological distress, and the relationship between exposure and distress among adolescents is presented. Participants were 617 first-year college students comprising African Americans and Jamaican Americans living in New York City, and Jamaicans living in Kingston, Jamaica. The three groups are similar in terms of age, gender, educational level, and race; they differ in location of residence, culture, and immigration status. Location of residence is related to exposure; immigration status is related to distress; but culture is not related to vulnerability when exposed. The effect size of the relationship between exposure and distress appears to be robust across variations in culture, amount of exposure, and level of distress. (Contains 1 table.)