1. Youth victimization profiles and change in mental health symptoms over one year
- Author
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Lynsay Ayer, Rosalie Malsberger, Dana Schultz, Lisa H. Jaycox, Aaron Kofner, and Claude Messan Setodji
- Subjects
Male ,Time Factors ,Externalization ,Adolescent ,Social Psychology ,education ,Poison control ,Suicide prevention ,Occupational safety and health ,Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic ,Injury prevention ,Humans ,Child ,Crime Victims ,Problem Behavior ,Human factors and ergonomics ,Mental health ,Latent class model ,Clinical Psychology ,Mental Health ,Caregivers ,Child, Preschool ,Female ,Psychology ,Follow-Up Studies ,Clinical psychology - Abstract
OBJECTIVE To understand how youth PTSD symptoms and externalizing problems emerge and change over time for youth with different profiles of victimization, including polyvictimization. METHOD We conducted a latent class analysis (LCA) to identify empirically derived victimization profiles in a sample of 2,776 youth who participated in an evaluation study. We then conducted growth curve analyses to determine whether these victimization profiles predicted change in the course of PTSD symptoms and externalizing problems over a 1-year time period for youth engaged in a variety of community-based services. RESULTS The LCA revealed three profiles: a low victimization profile defined by relatively low endorsement of victimization across types; a witnessing profile defined by particularly high endorsement of witnessing violence; and a polyvictimization profile defined by high endorsement of multiple types of victimization. We found that overall, despite differing initial levels of PTSD symptoms and externalizing problems, all three groups' symptoms improved over the year, but the polyvictimization class generally showed the steepest decreases, particularly in caregiver-reported PTSD symptoms. CONCLUSION Polyvictimized youth participating in community-based services are at increased risk for developing PTSD and externalizing problems, but symptoms appear to decrease to levels similar to other victimized youth after one year. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
- Published
- 2019
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