Mechanisms Linking Violence Exposure to Health Risk Behavior in Adolescence: Motivation To Cope and Sensation Seeking

• NCJ Number: 214396
• Journal: Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Volume: 45 Issue: 6 Dated: June 2006 Pages: 673-680
• Author(s): Sonya S. Brady Ph.D.; Geri R. Donenberg Ph.D.
• Date Published: June 2006
• Length: 8 pages
• Grant Number(s): R01 MH58545; T32 MH019391
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Mental Health
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined whether sensation-seeking and coping with stress through escape behavior linked exposure to violence and health-risk behavior among 251 adolescents (12-19 years old) in psychiatric care.

Abstract

Based on the study findings, the authors advise that clinical interventions should promote adaptive coping strategies that emphasize maintaining healthy behavior, effective problem solving skills, and stress-management techniques. Consistent with previous similar research with nonpsychiatric samples of adolescents, this study found that exposure to violence was associated with both increased substance use (sensation-seeking) and risky sexual behavior for both boys and girls. Exposure to violence was not associated with the motivation to engage in risky behavior as a means of escape, although motivation to cope with stress through escape was associated with a greater likelihood of substance use. Sensation-seeking was related to substance use and risky sexual behavior among all adolescents and with exposure to violence primarily among boys. The study data were from a larger longitudinal study that examined HIV risk behavior among youth in psychiatric care. Adolescents and their caregivers were recruited from four outpatient clinics in Chicago between 1999 and 2004. The study sample was 59 percent male, 61 percent African-American, 19 percent White, 12 percent Latino, and 8 percent biracial or other ethnicity. Lifetime exposure to five potentially traumatic events of interpersonal violence was determined from the PTSD (posttraumatic stress syndrome) module of the Computerized Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children. Sexual behavior and drug/alcohol abuse were determined from self-reports. The sexual behaviors measured were ever having vaginal sex, having sex with two or more partners in the past 6 months, having sex while using drugs or alcohol, having vaginal sex at age 14 or younger, and inconsistent condom use. Coping with stress through escape was measured through self-reported reasons for engaging in risky behavior. 4 tables and 39 references