title: Psychological problems, protective factors and health-related quality of life in youth affected by violence: the burden of the multiply victimised.
abstract: This study investigates self-rated mental health in terms of psychological problems, protective factors and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in a nationally representative sample of adolescents (n=6813) aged 11-17 involved in violence with varying frequency. Using MANCOVA and ANCOVA, youth with single and multiple histories of violent victimisation and violence perpetration were contrasted with non-involved comparisons. The results show that even low levels of violence involvement were associated with more problems, fewer protective factors and impaired HRQOL. Multiply victimised youth - not perpetrating victims - stood out with internalising, peer and hyperactivity/inattention problems. Discriminant function analysis separated non-involved from violence-affected youth, and multiply victimised from not multiply victimised youth. Externalising behaviours, family issues, male sex and school functioning predicted group separation on the first function (proportion variance explained 80.0%), while internalising and peer issues were predictive for the second function (PVE 14.2%). Implications for prevention, intervention and research are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Robert Koch Institute, Department of Epidemiology and Health Reporting, General-Pape-Strasse 62-66, 12101 Berlin, Germany. schlackr@rki.de
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schlack
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Ravens-Sieberer
authors.forename: Franz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Petermann
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D019955:Conduct Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D010379:Peer Group; D011788:Quality of Life; D017678:Sex Distribution; D020954:Single-Parent Family; D012923:Social Class; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology*