This article assesses the relation between health risk behaviors and varying levels of exposure to violence in an effort to inform assessment and intervention efforts of a school-based mental health program serving inner-city youth. Health risk behaviors such as involvement in violence, risky sexual behavior, and substance use are clearly associated, both with each other and with violence exposure. However, differential relationships were observed depending on the nature of violence exposure. Knowledge of violence was associated with substance use and sexual behavior variables. Witnessing violence was associated with violence involvement, substance use, and exercise variables. Finally, violent victimization was associated with violence involvement and sexual behavior variables. A more complete understanding of the associations among health risk factors and violence exposure variables has the potential to improve implementation of school mental health services for urban youth.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Aaron, D. J., Dearwater, S. R., Anderson, R., Olsen, T., Kriska, A. M., & LaPorte, R. E. (1995). Physical activity and the initiation of high-risk health behaviors in adolescents . Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 27(12), 1639-1645 .
2.
Acosta, O. M., Albus, K. E., Reynolds, M. W., Spriggs, D., & Weist, M. D. (2001). Assessing the status of research on violence-related problems among youth . Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 53, 152-160 .
3.
Brener, N. D., & Collins, J. L. (1998). Co-occurrence of health risk behaviors among adolescents in the United States . Journal of Adolescent Health, 22, 209-213 .
4.
Coie, J. D., & Bagwell, C. L. (1999). School-based predictors of serious adolescent psychopathology and dysfunction: Implications for prevention . In D. Cicchetti & S. Toth, Rochester symposium on developmental psychopathology, 9, 25-55 .
5.
Cooley-Quille, M., Boyd, R. C., Frantz, E., & Walsh, J. (2001). Emotional and behavioral impact of exposure to community violence in inner-city adolescents . Journal of Child Clinical Psychology, 53, 199-206 .
6.
Cooley-Quille, M. R., Turner, S. M., & Beidel, D. C. (1995). Emotional impact of children’s exposure to community violence: A preliminary study . Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 34, 1362-1368 .
7.
Dryfoos, J. G. (1998). Safe passage: Making it through adolescence in a risky society. New York: Oxford University Press .
8.
Edelson, J. L. (1999). Children’s witnessing of adult domestic violence . Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 14, 839-870 .
9.
Farrell, A. D., & Bruce, S. E. (1997). Impact of exposure to community violence on violent behavior and emotional distress among urban adolescents . Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 26(1), 2-14 .
10.
Fitzpatrick, K. M., & Boldizar, J. P. (1993). The prevalence and consequences of exposure to violence among African-American youth . Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 32(2), 424-430 .
11.
Jessor, R. (1992). Risk behavior in adolescence: A psychosocial framework for understanding and action. In D. E. Rogers & E. Ginzberg (Eds.), Adolescents at risk: Medical and social perspectives. Boulder, CO: Westview .
12.
Kolbe, L. J., Kann, L., & Collins, J. L. (1993). Overview of the youth risk behavior surveillance system . Public Health Reports, 108, 2-10 .
13.
Li, X., Feigelman, S., & Stanton, B. (2000). Perceived parental monitoring and health risk behaviors among urban low-income African American children and adolescents . Journal of Adolescent Health, 27, 43-48 .
14.
O’Keefe, M., & Sela-Amit, M. (1997). An examination of the effects of race/ethnicity and social class on adolescents’ exposure to violence . Journal of Social Service Research, 22, 53-71 .
15.
Orpinas, P. K., Basen-Engquist, K., Grunbaum, J., & Parcel, G. S. (1995). The co-morbidity of violence-related behaviors with health-risk behaviors in a population of high school students . Journal of Adolescent Health, 16, 216-225 .
16.
Perez-Smith, A. M.Albus, K. E., & Weist, M. D. (2001). Exposure to Violence and Neighborhood Affiliation Among Inner-City Youth . Journal of Clinical Child Psychology30(4), 464-472 .
17.
Pynoos, R. S., & Eth, S. (1985). Children traumatized by witnessing acts of personal violence. In S. Eth & R. Pynoos (Eds.), Post-traumatic stress disorder in children. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press .
18.
Schwartz, D., & Proctor, L. J. (2000). Community violence exposure and children’s social adjustment in the school peer group: The mediating roles of emotion regulation and social cognition . Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68, 670-683 .
19.
Sege, R., Stringham, P., Short, S., & Griffith, J. (1999). Ten years after: Examination of adolescent screening questions that predict future violence-related injury . Journal of Adolescent Health, 24, 395-402 .
20.
Shakoor, B., & Chalmers, D. (1991). Co-victimization of African-American children who witness violence: Effects on cognitive, emotional, and behavioral development . Journal of the National Medical Association, 83, 233-238 .
21.
Tubman, J. G., Windle, M., & Windle, R. C. (1996). Cumulative sexual intercourse patterns among middle adolescents: Problem behavior precursors and concurrent health risk behaviors . Journal of Adolescent Health, 18, 182-191 .
22.
Valois, R. F., Oeltmann, J. E., Waller, J., & Hussey, J. R. (1999). Relationship between number of sexual intercourse partners and selected health risk behaviors among public high school adolescents . Journal of Adolescent Health, 25, 328-335 .
23.
Walrath, C. M., Bruns, E. J., Anderson, K. L., Glass-Siegel, M., & Weist, M. D. (2004). Understanding Expanded School Mental Health Services in Baltimore City . Behavior Modification, 28 (4), PAGES
24.
Warner, B. S., & Weist, M. D. (1996). Urban youth as witnesses to violence: Beginning assessment and treatment efforts . Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 25, 361-377 .
25.
Weist, M. D., & Cooley-Quille, M. C. (2001). Advancing efforts to address youth violence involvement . Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 53, 147-151 .
26.
Weist, M. D., & Warner, B. S. (1997). Intervening against violence in the school . Adolescent Psychiatry: The Annals of the American Society for Adolescent Psychiatry, 21, 349-360 .
27.
Weist, M. D., Youngstrom, E., Myers, C. P, Warner, B. S., Varghese, S., & Dorsey, N. (2002). A clinically useful screening interview to assess violence exposure in youth . Child Psychiatry and Human Development32(4), 309-325 .
