PTSD as a Risk Factor for the Development of Violence Among Juvenile Offenders: A Group-Based Trajectory Modeling Approach

Abstract

Violent offending is a public health problem disproportionately perpetrated by adolescents. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been identified as a risk factor that increases an individual’s odds of engaging in violent behavior. Juvenile offenders are a population indicated to be at high risk of the development and perpetuation of violent behavior across the life course. Despite the fact that PTSD also has a high prevalence among juvenile offenders, there has yet to be any research examining PTSD as a risk factor for violent offending among juvenile offenders. Furthermore, very little research has examined the development specifically of violent offending across adolescence among juvenile offenders. Using group-based trajectory modeling (GBTM), this research found four distinct violence trajectories that juvenile offenders followed through adolescence (Abstaining, Moderate Stable, Desisting, High Chronic). Using multinomial logistic regression, PTSD was found to more than double the risk of assignment to all three trajectory groups that demonstrated violent behavior at some point in adolescence relative to the Abstaining reference group. This research adds to the limited research conducted on the development of violent behavior through adolescence among juvenile offenders using the GBTM method. Furthermore, results indicate that PTSD is a risk factor for the perpetration of violent behavior. These results suggest that juvenile offenders may desist from violence even after high rates of violence have already been achieved and that screening of trauma victims may be important for providing juvenile offenders suffering from PTSD with proper treatment to mitigate risk of violent behavior.