When do peers matter? The moderating role of peer support in the relationship between environmental adversity, complex trauma, and adolescent psychopathology in socially disadvantaged adolescents.

Introduction: This study examined the longitudinal associations between environmental adversity (defined in terms of exposure to violence in the neighborhood, school, and media), complex trauma (operationalized as experiences of abuse and neglect), and adolescents' internalizing and externalizing symptoms.

Methods: Using a cross-lagged panel research design, we investigated the moderating role of peer support in these relationships in a sample of 644 adolescents from a severely disadvantaged district of Lima, Peru, who were followed up in a 1-year prospective study.

Results And Conclusions: We found significant unidirectional dynamic relations, where both types of adversity were associated with higher levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms.

Prevalence of Exposure to Complex Trauma and Community Violence and Their Associations With Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms.

Studies about trauma often tend to focus on abuse and neglect. However important, these studies may neglect the importance of the broader community context that is often associated with trauma, and complex trauma (CT) in particular. This study aimed to investigate the effects of CT (defined in terms of experiencing abuse and/or neglect occurring in the context of relationships with caregivers), and of broader environmental adversity (i.