title: Disaster and youth violence: the experience of school-attending youth in New Orleans.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although disaster exposure has been linked with increased child aggression by previous reports, population-level trends are unknown. Pre- to post-Katrina changes in violence-related behaviors among New Orleans high school youth (ages: 12-18 years) were assessed.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from the 2003 (pre-Katrina), 2005 (pre-Katrina), and 2007 (post-Katrina) New Orleans Youth Risk Behavior Survey (n = 5,267) were used. Crude comparisons across years of population characteristics and violence behavior prevalence were made with χ(2) analyses. Changes in violence-related behaviors over time were assessed with logistic regression models including indicators for survey years and controls for compositional changes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Age, gender, and race/ethnicity of school-attending youth were stable across years. In models controlling for demographics, most behaviors were stable over time. Some changes were observed for all groups; dating violence and forced sex increased before the storm, whereas weapon-carrying and missing school as a result of feeling unsafe decreased after the storm. Among African American adolescents only, being threatened at school increased before Katrina.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results do not support significant population-level increases in violent behavior post-Katrina among school-attending youth in New Orleans. Factors that buffered New Orleans students from post-Katrina violence increases, such as population composition changes or increased supportive services, may explain these findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Health Sciences, Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, LA 70119, USA. aspriggs@tulane.edu
authors.forename: Aubrey S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Madkour
authors.forename: Carolyn C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Gretchen A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Clum
authors.forename: Lisanne
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D055867:Cyclonic Storms / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004190:Disasters / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D055820:New Orleans; D012309:Risk-Taking; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014754:Violence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*