NCJ Number
217567
Journal
Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 31 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2007 Pages: 7-26
Date Published
January 2007
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This study assessed the mental health consequences of experiencing a variety of different types of violence ("poly-victimization") for a nationally representative sample of U.S. children 2-17 years old.
Abstract
The study found that children who experienced four or more different types of violence in the previous year scored higher on mental health symptoms (anxiety, depressive symptoms, and anger/aggression) than children who experienced fewer types of violence. Twenty-two percent of the sample had experienced four or more different kinds of violence in the previous year. Poly-victimization greatly reduced or eliminated the association between individual victimizations (e.g., sexual abuse) and adverse mental health symptoms. "Poly-victims" had more severe mental health symptoms than children with repeated episodes of the same type of victimization. The authors advise that researchers and practitioners should assess children for their experiences of a broad range of types of violence, and researchers should avoid studies and assessments that are limited to only a single type of victimization. Respondents included 1,000 children over 9 years old and 1,030 caregivers of younger children. Respondents were asked about children's experiences of 34 types of violence clustered into six groups: sexual victimization, physical assault, property damage, any child maltreatment, peer/sibling victimization, and witnessing/indirect violence. The authors developed a new research instrument for measuring these types of violence. It is called the Juvenile Violence Questionnaire and is the first instrument to address such a wide range of experiences of violence and to ask children directly about their experiences of violence. Respondents were asked about mental health symptoms related to anxiety, depressive symptoms, and anger/aggression. 3 tables, 2 figures, and 76 references