Exposure to violence and mental health of adolescents: South African Health and Well-being Study.

Journal: BJPsych open

Volume: 3

Issue: 5

Year of Publication: 

Affiliated Institutions:  , PhD FRCPsych, Centre for Psychiatry, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Barts and the London, School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK. , PhD, St George's University of London, London, UK. , PhD MRCPsych, Department of Health Service and Population Research, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), Kings College London, London, UK. , PhD, Health Systems Research Unit, Medical Research Council, Cape Town, South Africa; School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa. , PhD, Department of Student Affairs, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa. , PhD, Centre for Psychiatry, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Barts and the London, School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK. , PhD, Alan J. Flisher Centre for Public Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa; Centre for Global Mental Health, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.

Abstract summary 

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.The association of violence exposure and emotional disorders was examined in Cape Town adolescents.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.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.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.None.© The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2017. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Non-Commercial, No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) license.

Authors & Co-authors:  Stansfeld Stephen A SA Rothon Catherine C Das-Munshi Jayati J Mathews Cathy C Adams Arlene A Clark Charlotte C Lund Crick C

Study Outcome 

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Statistics
Citations :  Patel V, Flisher A, Hetrick S, McGorry P. Mental health of young people: a global public-health challenge. Lancet 2007; 369: 1302–13.
Authors :  7
Identifiers
Doi : 10.1192/bjpo.bp.117.004861
SSN : 2056-4724
Study Population
Male,Female
Mesh Terms
Other Terms
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study
Study Approach
Country of Study
South Africa
Publication Country
England