Typologies of Violence Exposure and Cognitive Processing in Incarcerated Male Adolescents

• Published in: Journal of family violence 2014-05, Vol.29 (4), p.439-451
• Main Authors: Perkins, Suzanne C., Smith-Darden, Joanne, Ametrano, Rebecca M., Graham-Bermann, Sandra
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescents; Clinical Psychology; Cognition; Cognition & reasoning; Criminality; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Disability; Domestic violence; Executives; Families & family life; Family violence; Health Problems; Juvenile Offenders; Law and Psychology; Males; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental Health; Mental illness; Psychological aspects; Psychotherapy and Counseling; Quality of Life Research; Research on Outcomes of Adverse Childhood Experiences; Risk; Risk factors; Typology; Violence; Youth
• ISSN: 0885-7482; 1573-2851
• DOI: 10.1007/s10896-014-9600-y

Incarcerated youth experience high rates of violence exposure (VE), cognitive processing (CP) deficits, and mental health (MH) problems. It is not clear whether VE combined with CP deficits are particularly salient risk factors for MH dysfunction. Male incarcerated youth offenders ( n  = 115) completed standardized self-reports of MH and VE. CP was measured with executive functioning tasks and academic assessments. Person-centered Ward’s Squared Euclidian Distance cluster analysis was used to examine unique patterns of CP and VE. Cluster analysis defined five distinct profiles of MH functioning, CP, and VE rates within incarcerated adolescents. Two groups, with high rates of VE and CP deficits, showed high rates of MH problems. Linear techniques may obscure important differences within this population.