A Comprehensive Model of Community Violence Exposure Outcomes Using an Ecological Systems Framework

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Sociology
• Public Health

Background:

• Community violence (CV) is linked to adverse psychosocial effects like posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and anger.
• Resilience is also observed in individuals exposed to CV, indicating multifinality of outcomes.
• Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems framework provides a lens to understand these varied responses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate individual, microsystem, and exosystem factors associated with PTSS, anger, and resilience in emerging adults exposed to CV.
• To examine the interplay of different ecological levels in predicting psychosocial outcomes following violence exposure.
• To inform targeted interventions for emerging adults affected by community violence.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study involving 536 emerging adults (ages 18-25) from two universities.
• Hierarchical linear regression models were used to analyze PTSS, anger, and resilience as dependent variables.
• Factors examined included individual (demographics, trauma exposure, beliefs), microsystem (parental monitoring, social support), and exosystem (community cohesion, disorder) variables.

Main Results:

• Female gender, higher CV and trauma exposure, and lower social support predicted greater PTSS.
• Problematic anger was associated with cumulative trauma, "code of the streets" beliefs, low social support, and community disorder.
• Resilience was linked to higher income, minority racial identity, higher CV exposure, religiosity, social support, and community cohesion.

Conclusions:

• Findings underscore the concurrent importance of examining individual, microsystem, and exosystem factors in understanding outcomes of community violence.
• Individual and microsystem factors, particularly social support, emerge as critical targets for intervention and prevention efforts.
• Ecological approaches are vital for addressing the complex psychosocial needs of emerging adults exposed to violence.