The association between youth violence and mental health outcomes in Colombia: A cross sectional analysis

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Child Abuse Negl
• Personal Author:
  Vahedi, Luissa ; Seff, Ilana ; Meinhart, Melissa ; Roa, Arturo Harker ; Villaveces, Andrés ; Stark, Lindsay
• 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:
  Adolescent Child Colombia Crime Victims Cross-Sectional Studies Female Humans Male Outcome Assessment, Health Care Substance-Related Disorders Violence

  More +
• Keywords:
  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/
• Volume:
  150
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:3a87878d61f8befa544d6083a196240ea95c3eb69f5568dd5de5e4316fe22199de77fa4169b36ec0d2cda520d11d71271680fbfabdcfa4b0d739f794dcd859d9
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/149627/cdc_149627_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 173.54 KB ]