Exposure to violence and mental health of adolescents: South African Health and Well-being Study
Background Material and social environmental stressors affect mental health in adolescence. Protective factors such as social support from family and friends may help to buffe...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
2017-09-01
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| Series: | BJPsych Open |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2056472400002362/type/journal_article |
| Summary: | Background
Material and social environmental stressors affect mental health in
adolescence. Protective factors such as social support from family and
friends may help to buffer the effects of adversity.
Aims
The association of violence exposure and emotional disorders was examined
in Cape Town adolescents.
Method
A total of 1034 Grade 8 high school students participated from seven
government co-educational schools in Cape Town, South Africa. Exposure to
violence in the past 12 months and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
symptoms were measured by the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire, depressive
and anxiety symptoms by the Short Moods and Feelings Questionnaire and
the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale.
Results
Exposure to violence was associated with high scores on depressive (odds
ratio (OR)=6.23, 95% CI 4.2–9.2), anxiety (OR=5.40, 95% CI 2.4–12.4) and
PTSD symptoms (OR=8.93, 95% CI 2.9–27.2) and increased risk of self-harm
(OR=5.72, 95% CI 1.2–25.9) adjusting for gender and social support.
Conclusions
We found that high exposure to violence was associated with high levels
of emotional disorders in adolescents that was not buffered by social
support. There is an urgent need for interventions to reduce exposure to
violence in young people in this setting.
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| ISSN: | 2056-4724 |