Exposure to community violence in adolescence: trauma symptoms

This research explored the relationship between exposure to violence and psychological stress among adolescents. It focused on the cumulative experience of recurring community violence during the high school years, differentiated victimization from witnessing violence, and examined four conceptually separate psychological symptoms of trauma (anger, anxiety, depression, and dissociation). Considerable exposure to recurring community violence, but also considerable variation in the amount of exposure, was found in the sample of 455 first-year students at an urban college. Exposure to recurring community violence was moderately correlated with the manifestation of psychological trauma symptoms. Further, being victimized and witnessing violence had independent (as well as overlapping) relationships with trauma symptoms. It was concluded that attempts to account for psychological stress among adolescents must include exposure to community violence.