Gender Differences in Posttraumatic Stress and Related Symptoms among Inner-City Minority Youth Exposed to Community Violence

• Published in: Journal of youth and adolescence Vol. 33; no. 1; pp. 59 - 69
• Main Authors: Foster, Jennifer D, Kuperminc, Gabriel P, Price, Ann W
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Springer-Verlag New York, LLC 01-02-2004; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adolescents; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Adults; African American Children; African Americans; Anxiety; Anxiety Disorders; Anxiety disorders. Neuroses; Attention Deficit Disorders; Biological and medical sciences; Black American people; Central Cities; Children & youth; Community Relations; Community violence; Comorbidity; Depression (Psychology); Domestic violence; Females; Gangs; Gender Differences; Girls; Inner cities; Inner city; Interviews; Juvenile offenders; Males; Medical sciences; Mental depression; Murders & murder attempts; Post traumatic stress disorder; Posttraumatic Stress Disorder; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Separation Anxiety; Sex Differences; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Teenagers; Trauma; Urban Areas; Victims of Crime; Violence; Violent crime; Young people; Youth; Human; Posttraumatic syndrome; Violence; Anxiety disorder; Sex; Exposure; Stress; gender differences; Symptomatology; posttraumatic stress; Correlation analysis; Adolescent; Risk factor; community violence
• ISSN: 0047-2891; 1573-6601
• DOI: 10.1023/A:1027386430859

This study examined gender differences in levels of violence exposure, and in levels of posttraumatic stress (PTS) and related symptomatology in a sample of inner-city predominantly African American youth. Because such youth are at risk for exposure to chronic community violence, they are likely to experience considerable distress and clinical or subclinical levels of posttraumatic stress and related symptoms. Previous research has found that although boys are exposed to violence more frequently than are girls, girls are more likely to express posttraumatic stress and related symptoms as a result of violence exposure. Thus, we examined gender as a moderator of the relation between violence exposure and symptoms. A stronger positive association of anxiety and depression symptoms with extent of community violence exposure for girls than boys was found. It was also found that while girls do not appear to differ in their responses to witnessing violence versus being a victim of violence, boys appear to be more distressed by being a victim of violence than by witnessing violence.