Race/ethnicity and mental health in the first decade of the 21st century.

Recent empirical studies on mental health generally report racial/ ethnic differences in depression rates but typically do not control for potential confounding by sample contextual variations in historical epoch, geographical location, and social demography. An empirical study of race/ethnicity differences in psychological distress is reported as an attempt to control these contexts by using a sample that is homogeneous in age, historical epoch, geography, and social demography (954 youth ages 18-19 living in a single, large urban community). No mean differences in psychological distress were observed among four racial/ethnic groups: Asians, African Americans, Latinos, and non-Hispanic Whites.

Community violence and psychological distress: the protective effects of emotional social support and sense of personal control among older adolescents.

This empirical study investigated three mechanisms of protection (preventive, compensatory, buffering) for two factors (emotional social support, sense of personal control) in the relationship between exposure to community violence and psychological distress among 947 diverse, older adolescents. Findings indicate that social support and sense of personal control do provide protection; however, the primary mechanism is compensatory (for support r = -.35; for control, r = -.

Trauma, protection, and distress in late adolescence: a multi-determinant approach.

This empirical study investigated the multivariable relationship between psychological distress and the combination of a set of four trauma events (victim of violence, witness of violence, victim of accidents, and interpersonal loss) and a set of four protective factors (emotional social support, sense of personal efficacy, easygoing temperament, and gender) among a sample of 1,066 graduating high school seniors in a large urban community. Each of the eight independent variables had a statistically significant zero-order correlation with psychological distress. The set of eight variables (four trauma and four protective) had a multiple correlation of R = .

Adolescents' psychological response to the experience of community interpersonal violence: a cross-national and a cross-cultural comparison.

A comparative cross-national study investigating the level of experience with community interpersonal violence, level of psychological distress, and the relationship between exposure and distress among adolescents is presented. Participants were 617 first-year college students comprising African Americans and Jamaican Americans living in New York City, and Jamaicans living in Kingston, Jamaica. The three groups are similar in terms of age, gender, educational level, and race; they differ in location of residence, culture, and immigration status.

Exposure to community violence and upper respiratory illness in older adolescents.

Purpose: To examine the relationship between exposure to chronic community violence and upper respiratory illness (URI) symptoms among urban adolescents of color; and to test the generality of a model of the relationship between social stress and URI.

Method: The research used a cross-sectional correlational design. The sample was 769 first-semester first-year students in an urban nonresidential 4-year college from the academic years 1999-2002.

Psychological effects of attack on the World Trade Center: analysis before and after.

Four different studies using a total sample of 711 from the same New York City student population tested a model that has emerged from previous research on disasters. The model suggests that postdisaster psychological distress is a function of exposure to the disaster, predisaster psychological distress, acute distress following the disaster, time elapsed between disaster and observation of distress, and additional traumatic experiences since the disaster. Although findings replicate those of previous cross-sectional studies regarding association of exposure and distress after the disaster, before and after studies did not detect an effect on postdisaster psychological distress of the World Trade Center attack.

The association of ecological variables and psychological distress with exposure to community violence among adolescents.

Ecological theory suggests that exposure to community violence should be related to individual, family, and community characteristics; traumatic stress theory suggests that exposure to community violence should be related to level of psychological distress. A correlational study of 468 older adolescents in New York City tested these hypotheses. Exposure was found to be moderately related to level of psychological distress, but was not related to family or neighborhood characteristics.

Impact of exposure to community violence and psychological symptoms on college performance among students of color.

This study examined longitudinal relationships among exposure to chronic community violence during high school, psychological distress during the first semester of college, and academic performance during the first three semesters of college. The sample comprised 385 students of color in a large city. Exposure to community violence and psychological distress were measured with additive scales; academic performance (school persistence, grade point average) was obtained from transcripts.

The relationship between exposure to community violence and psychological distress among adolescents: a meta-analysis.

This article is concerned with the "size of the relationship" between exposure to chronic community violence and psychological symptoms among adolescents. It analyzes all relevant empirical studies in the published literature during the last 20 years; uses quantitative methods to summarize findings; and estimates the effect size using meta-analysis. The 37 independent samples (n = 17,322) were coded on 19 categories, including size and characteristics of sample, and characteristics of the independent and dependent variables.

Relations of psychological distress with objective individual, family, and neighborhood characteristics of urban adolescents.

This paper describes the relations of psychological distress with 11 ecological factors (5 community, 4 family, and 2 individual) among 423 older urban adolescents who are predominantly people of color. Data were obtained by means of self-report via group-administered questionnaires given between 1994 and 1996; most scales are multi-item. There is wide variation in distress.