title: Community violence exposure, threat appraisal, and adjustment in adolescents.
abstract: Validity data are presented for a new measure of threat appraisals in response to community violence. Adolescents (N = 358; 45% male; 91% African American, M = 12.10 years, SD = 1.63) and their maternal caregivers participated in two waves of a longitudinal interview study focused on the consequences of exposure to community violence. Structural equation modeling revealed that a six-factor correlated model best fit the data, indicating that the six subscales of the threat appraisal measure represent distinct but related constructs. The factor structure was invariant across age and gender. Exposure to violence was associated prospectively with caregiver- and adolescent-rated adjustment problems. Each of the six threat appraisals mediated links between exposure to violence at Wave 1 and adolescent-rated internalizing adjustment problems 1 year later.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA. wkliewer@vcu.edu
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kliewer
authors.forename: Terri N
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Sullivan
mesh_terms: D000275:Adjustment Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D000293:Adolescent; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D044383:Black People / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011594:Psychometrics; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012917:Social Adjustment; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology*; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology*; D001741:Black or African American