Details:

Alternative Title:
Child Abuse Negl
Personal Author:
Vahedi, Luissa ; Seff, Ilana ; Meinhart, Melissa ; Roa, Arturo Harker ; Villaveces, Andrés ; ... More +
Vahedi, Luissa ; Seff, Ilana ; Meinhart, Melissa ; Roa, Arturo Harker ; Villaveces, Andrés ; Stark, Lindsay Less -
Description:
Background:

Violence against children and youth poses public health risks regarding mental health symptoms and substance use. Less studied is the relationship between violence and mental health/substance abuse in the Latin American context. This study explored sex-stratified relationships between violence and mental health/substance use among Colombian youth.

Methods:

We analyzed the 2018 Colombian Violence Against Children and Youth Survey, which collected cross-sectional data from Colombian youth (13–24 years) (n = 2706). Exposure variables were (i) binary sexual, emotional, and physical victimization and (ii) poly-victimization. The outcomes were binary suicidal thoughts, self-harm, past-month psychological distress, binge drinking, smoking, and drug use. Sex-stratified, logistic regressions were adjusted for age, primary school, parental presence, relationship status, and witnessing community violence.

Results:

For females, (i) emotional violence (compared to being unexposed) was associated with greater odds of suicidal thoughts, self-harm, and psychological distress and (ii) sexual violence was associated with suicidal thoughts and self-harm. For males, (i) emotional violence (compared to being unexposed) was associated with greater odds of suicidal thoughts and psychological distress, but not self-harm and (ii) sexual violence exposure was associated with suicidal thoughts and self-harm. Physical violence was generally not associated with internalized mental health outcomes for females/males, when emotional and sexual violence were held constant. Poly-victimization was consistently and positively associated with internalized mental health symptoms among females, and to a lesser degree for males. Substance use outcomes for males or females were not associated with violence.

Conclusions:

Findings highlight the internalized mental health burden of emotional and sexual violence.


Subjects:
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Adolescent Child Colombia Crime Victims Cross-Sectional Studies Female Humans Male Outcome Assessment, Health Care Substance-Related Disorders Violence
Keywords:
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Adverse Childhood Experiences Mental Health Substance Use Violence Against Children Youth
Source:
Child Abuse Negl. 150:106336
Pubmed ID:
37442669
Pubmed Central ID:
PMC10896151
Document Type:
Journal Article
Funding:
CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
Collection(s):
CDC Public Access
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:1f77de57382dfa519d28d39aa51a504e48c4acb6399962c5cea37e80c30ea177
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