The Role of Family Conflict in the Relation Between Exposure to Community Violence and Depressive Symptoms

The current study examined the role of family conflict as a mediator in the relation between exposure to community violence and depressive symptoms. Two hundred thirty‐two early adolescents (aged 11–16 years) completed a demographics questionnaire, the Survey of Exposure to Community Violence, the 9‐item conflict subscale of the Family Environment Scale, and the Children's Depression Inventory. Family conflict was found to be a significant mediator of the relation between exposure to community violence via victimization and depressive symptoms. Clinical efforts should seek to prevent or reduce conflict in families of youth experiencing community violence victimization. Future research should continue to evaluate microsystem factors as mechanisms through which exposure to community violence affects the psychological well‐being of youth

Anxiety · Conflict tactics scale · Demographics · Depression (economics) · Depressive symptoms · Developmental psychology · Domestic violence · Environmental health · Family conflict · Family Environment Scale · Poison control · Psychiatry · Scale (ratio) · Suicide prevention · Child Abuse and Trauma · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development · Clinical Psychology · Demography · Intimate Partner and Family Violence · Medicine · Psychology

• Ecological Correlates of Depression and Self-Esteem in Rural Youth

  Open Access•Paul R Smokowski, Caroline B R Evans et al.•Child Psychiatry & Human…•2013

  Incluir item

• Conventional and expanded adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and maternal functioning among low‐income Black mothers

  Open Access•Kerry A Lee, Brenda Jones Harden et al.•Child & Family Social Work•2022

  Incluir item

• The moderating effect of neighborhood sense of community on predictors of substance use among Hispanic urban youth

  David T Lardier, Marisa MacDonnell et al.•Journal of Ethnicity in Substance…•2017

  Incluir item

• Individual Characteristics, Microsystem Factors, and Proximal Relationship Processes Associated with Ethnic Identity in Rural Youth

  Open Access•Caroline B R Evans, Paul R Smokowski et al.•Journal of the Society for Social…•2014

  Incluir item

• Nodality Dynamics and Network Evolution in Multi‐Actor Cooperation

  Open Access•Yangyang Chen, Yulin Chen et al.•Public Administration•2025

  Incluir item

• Environmental Stressors, Social Support, and Internalizing Symptoms Among African American Youth

  Open Access•Susan D Mcmahon, Crystal Coker et al.•Journal of Community Psychology•2013

  Incluir item

• No Safe Haven II

  Open Access•Mary Schwab‐Stone, Mary Schwab-Stone et al.•Journal of the American Academy…•1999

  Incluir item

• Adolescents' Exposure to Violence and Associated Symptoms of Psychological Trauma

  Mark I Singer•JAMA•1995

  Incluir item

• Violence Exposure and Adjustment in Inner-City Youth

  Wendy Kliewer, Jera Nelson Cunningham et al.•Journal of Clinical Child &…•2004

  Incluir item

• Ecological systems theory.

  Urie Bronfenbrenner•Encyclopedia of Psychology Volume 3•2000

  Incluir item

• The Nimh Community Violence Project

  John E Richters, Pedro Martínez et al.•Psychiatry•1993

  Incluir item

• Methods for Handling Missing Data

  John W Graham, J A Graham et al.•Handbook of Psychology•2003

  Incluir item

• Normative and reliability data for the children's depression inventory

  Open Access•Mervin R Smucker, W Edward Craighead et al.•Journal of Abnormal Child…•1986

  Incluir item

• Community Violence and Children on Chicago’s Southside

  Carl C Bell, Esther J Jenkins•Psychiatry•1993

  Incluir item

• Assessing Exposure to Violence in Urban Youth

  Open Access•Mary Beth Selner‐O'Hagan, Daniel J Kindlon et al.•Journal of Child Psychology and…•1998

  Incluir item

• Emotional and Behavioral Impact of Exposure to Community Violence in Inner-City Adolescents

  Michele Cooley-Quille, Rhonda C Boyd et al.•Journal of Clinical Child &…•2001

  Incluir item

• Prevalence of Child and Adolescent Exposure to Community Violence

  Open Access•Bradley D Stein, Lisa H Jaycox et al.•Clinical Child and Family…•2003

  Incluir item

• Urban Adolescents' Exposure to Community Violence

  Emily J Ozer, Rhona S Weinstein•Journal of Clinical Child &…•2004

  Incluir item

• Social Support Factors as Moderators of Community Violence Exposure Among Inner-City African American Young Adolescents

  Phillip L Hammack, Maryse H Richards et al.•Journal of Clinical Child &…•2004

  Incluir item

• The Prevalence and Consequences of Exposure to Violence among African-American Youth

  Open Access•K M Fitzpatrick, Janet P Boldizar•Journal of the American Academy…•1993

  Incluir item

• Toward an Ecological/Transactional Model of Community Violence and Child Maltreatment

  Dante Cicchetti, Michael Lynch•Psychiatry•1993

  Incluir item

• No Safe Haven

  Open Access•Mary Schwab‐Stone, MARY E SCHWAB-STONE et al.•Journal of the American Academy…•1995

  Incluir item

• The role of social and cognitive processes in children's adjustment to community violence.

  Wendy Kliewer, Stephen J Lepore et al.•Journal of Consulting and…•1998

  Incluir item

• Exposure to violence and presence of depression among low-income, African-American youth.

  K M Fitzpatrick•Journal of Consulting and…•1993

  Incluir item

• G*Power 3

  Open Access•Franz Faul, Edgar Erdfelder et al.•Behavior Research Methods•2007

  Incluir item

• Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models

  Open Access•Kristopher J Preacher, Andrew F Hayes•Behavior Research Methods•2008

  Incluir item

• SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models

  Open Access•Kristopher J Preacher, Andrew F Hayes•Behavior Research Methods,…•2004

  Incluir item

• Bias in cross-sectional analyses of longitudinal mediation.

  Scott E Maxwell, David A Cole•Psychological Methods•2007

  Incluir item

• Required Sample Size to Detect the Mediated Effect

  Open Access•Matthew S Fritz, David P Mackinnon•Psychological Science•2007

  Incluir item

• Violence Exposure, Catecholamine Excretion, and Blood Pressure Nondipping Status in African American Male Versus Female Adolescents

  Dabney K Wilson•Psychosomatic Medicine•2002

  Incluir item

• Victimization of children

  David Finkelhor, Jennifer Dzuiba-Leatherman•American Psychologist•1994

  Incluir item

• Exposure to Community Violence and Trauma Symptoms in Late Adolescence

  Open Access•Beth Spenciner Rosenthal, Eve Hutton et al.•Psychological Reports•2001

  Incluir item

• Perceived family conflict, parental attachment, and depression in African American female adolescents

  Madonna G Constantine•Cultural Diversity & Ethnic…•2006

  Incluir item

• The Impact of Violence on Urban Adolescents

  Open Access•Emily J Ozer•Journal of Adolescent Research•2005

  Incluir item

• Adolescent Victimization

  Open Access•Elizabeth Christiansen, Elizabeth J Christiansen et al.•The Journal of Early Adolescence•2005

  Incluir item

• Gender and Age in the Relation between Stress and Children's School Adjustment

  Open Access•Sherryl H Goodman, H Elizabeth Brumley et al.•The Journal of Early Adolescence•1993

  Incluir item

• Family Conflict and Children's Internalizing and Externalizing Behavior

  Open Access•Diana Formoso, Nancy A Gonzales et al.•American Journal of Community…•2000

  Incluir item

• Intervening Processes Between Youths’ Exposure to Community Violence and Internalizing Symptoms Over Time

  Open Access•Margaret Rosario, Suzanne Salzinger et al.•American Journal of Community…•2008

  Incluir item

• Social support provisions as differential predictors of adaptive outcomes in young adolescents

  Open Access•Jared S Warren, Yo Jackson et al.•Journal of Community Psychology•2009

  Incluir item

• Factors associated with the use of violence among urban black adolescents

  Robert H DuRant, Chris Cadenhead et al.•American Journal of Public Health•1994

  Incluir item

• Children of Adolescent Mothers

  Open Access•Shannon S Carothers, John G Borkowski et al.•Journal of Youth and Adolescence•2006

  Incluir item

• Community Violence, Family Conflict, and Preschoolers' Socioemotional Functioning

  Jo Ann M Farver, Yiyuan Xu et al.•Developmental Psychology•2005

  Incluir item

• Do urban adolescents become desensitized to community violence? Data from a national survey

  Michael R McCart, Daniel W Smith et al.•American Journal of Orthopsychiatry•2007

  Incluir item

• The impact of exposure to crime and violence on urban youth

  Steven L Berman, William M Kurtines et al.•American Journal of Orthopsychiatry•1996

  Incluir item

• Negative coping as mediator in the relation between violence and outcomes

  Margaret Dempsey•American Journal of Orthopsychiatry•2002

  Incluir item

• Exposure to community violence and post-traumatic stress symptoms

  Stacy Overstreet, Magda Ruggieri Marchetti et al.•American Journal of Orthopsychiatry•2000

  Incluir item

• The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research

  Reuben M Baron, D A Kenny•Journal of Personality and Social…•1986

  Incluir item

• The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research

  Reuben M Baron, D A Kenny•Journal of Personality and Social…•1986

  Incluir item

• Youth Violence and the End of Adolescence

  J Hagan, Holly Foster•American Sociological Review•2001

  Incluir item

• Risk, Conflict, Mothers' Parenting, and Children's Adjustment in Low-Income, Mexican Immigrant, and Mexican American Families

  Larry E Dumka, Mark W Roosa et al.•Journal of Marriage and the Family•1997

  Incluir item