Violence Exposure and Psychopathology in Latino Youth: The Moderating Role of Active and Avoidant Coping

Publication Date

6-2018

Document Type

Article

Organizational Units

College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, Psychology

Keywords

Violence exposure, Latino youth, Psychopathology, Coping, Active coping, Avoidant coping

Abstract

Despite high rates of exposure to community violence among Latino youth in urban communities, there is considerable variability in individual outcomes. This study examined (a) associations between coping and indices of Latino culture, (b) main effects of active/avoidant coping on psychopathology, and (c) whether coping moderates the impact of violence exposure on mental health in Latino youth. Participants included 168 Latino youth (56% female; ages 11–14) that took part in a short-term longitudinal study. Results indicate that youth acculturation was positively associated with active coping, but enculturation level and immigrant status were not associated with coping. Structural equation models suggested that active coping was negatively associated with internalizing problems (p = .046) while avoidant coping was positively associated with internalizing problems (p = .013) and posttraumatic stress symptoms (p = .024). Moderation analyses revealed that violence exposure was more strongly associated with internalizing problems as reliance on avoidance coping increased. However, at high levels of violence exposure, a greater reliance on active coping was related to increased posttraumatic stress problems. Findings suggest that consideration of the specific stressor, level of stress exposure, and mental health problem-type may be crucial in determining the effectiveness of a coping strategy. Implications for future research and intervention are discussed.

Copyright Date

11-13-2017

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. User is responsible for all copyright compliance. This article was originally published as:

Gudiño, O. G., Stiles, A. A., & Diaz, K. I. (2018). Violence exposure and psychopathology in Latino youth: The moderating role of active and avoidant coping. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 49(3), 468-479. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-017-0767-3

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Rights Holder

Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

Provenance

Received from CHORUS

File Format

application/pdf

Language

English (eng)

Extent

12 pgs

File Size

1.0 MB

Publication Title

Child Psychiatry and Human Development

Volume

49

Issue

3

First Page

468

Last Page

479

ISSN

1573-3327

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