Adolescents' Exposure to Violence and It's Associated Psychiatric Symptoms.
- Author:
Ho Bun LEE
1
;
Sung Kil MIN
;
Rye Sook CHUN
;
Dong Ho SONG
;
Ki Whan YOOK
;
Dong Kil KIM
Author Information
1. Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Adolescent;
Violence;
TSC
- MeSH:
Adolescent;
Anger;
Crime Victims;
Female;
Humans;
Male;
Parents;
Residence Characteristics;
Risk Factors;
Seoul;
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic;
Violence*
- From:Journal of Korean Neuropsychiatric Association
1998;37(2):251-260
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
In this research, we examined the frequency of exposure to violence in the home, school and neighborhood among middle school students as well as its related psychiatric symptoms. A total of 1,345 students from 5 middle schools in Seoul participated in this study: 670 were male, 675 were female. We administered self-reported questionaires including discriptions of exposure to violence and a trauma symptom checklist(TSC)(Singer 1995). 1) The total frequency of exposure to any type of violence was 45% in our sample. The frequency of girls' being hit in home was 22.8%, which was significantly higher than it was for boys(p<0.001). The frequency of boys' exposure to violence in school and in the neighborhood was 22.1% and 10.1% respectively, which was higher than it was for girls(p<0.005). 2) In factor analysis of TSC, 4 factors were identified. TSC including depression-anxity, PTSD, dissociation and anger was correlated with violence exposure variables. Multiple regression analysis revealed that TSC is related with violence victimization in life(R2=0.18), sexual assault(R2=0.12), recent victimization in the home(R2=0.08), recent witness to violencein the home(R2=0.07), recent victimization in school(R2=0.08) and all violence exposures(R2=0.29). 3) Among the demographic variables, sex, parental alcohol problem and student alcohol-smoking-drug problems influenced the TSC(p<0.005). TSC could be result of witness to violence as well violence victimization. And the risk factors for violence-related psychiatric symptoms were mainly seen in females, who have parents with alcohol problems or who themselves have alcohol-substance problems. So intervention programs for violence victims should be focused on the these high risk group.
