Abstract
Urban, minority, adolescent mothers are particularly vulnerable to violence exposure, which may increase their children's developmental risk through maternal depression and negative parenting. The current study tests a conceptual model of the effects of community and contextual violence exposure on the mental health and parenting of young, African-American mothers living in Washington, DC. A path analysis revealed significant direct effects of witnessed and experienced violence on mothers' depressive symptoms and general aggression. Experiences of discrimination were also associated with increased depressive symptoms. Moreover, there were significant indirect effects of mothers' violence exposure on disciplinary practices through depression and aggression. These findings highlight the range of violence young African-American mothers are exposed to and how these experiences affect their mental health, particularly depressive symptoms, and thus disciplinary practices.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 526-533 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Social Science and Medicine |
| Volume | 70 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 2010 |
| Externally published | Yes |
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Keywords
- Adolescent parenting
- African-American
- Aggression
- Community violence
- Depression
- Discipline
- Ethnic discrimination
- Mothers
- USA
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Health(social science)
Cite this
How does violence exposure affect the psychological health and parenting of young African-American mothers? / Mitchell, Stephanie J.; Lewin, Amy; Horn, Ivor B.; Valentine, Dawn; Sanders-Phillips, Kathy; Joseph, Jill G.
In: Social Science and Medicine, Vol. 70, No. 4, 02.2010, p. 526-533.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
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TY - JOUR
T1 - How does violence exposure affect the psychological health and parenting of young African-American mothers?
AU - Mitchell, Stephanie J.
AU - Lewin, Amy
AU - Horn, Ivor B.
AU - Valentine, Dawn
AU - Sanders-Phillips, Kathy
AU - Joseph, Jill G
PY - 2010/2
Y1 - 2010/2
N2 - Urban, minority, adolescent mothers are particularly vulnerable to violence exposure, which may increase their children's developmental risk through maternal depression and negative parenting. The current study tests a conceptual model of the effects of community and contextual violence exposure on the mental health and parenting of young, African-American mothers living in Washington, DC. A path analysis revealed significant direct effects of witnessed and experienced violence on mothers' depressive symptoms and general aggression. Experiences of discrimination were also associated with increased depressive symptoms. Moreover, there were significant indirect effects of mothers' violence exposure on disciplinary practices through depression and aggression. These findings highlight the range of violence young African-American mothers are exposed to and how these experiences affect their mental health, particularly depressive symptoms, and thus disciplinary practices.
AB - Urban, minority, adolescent mothers are particularly vulnerable to violence exposure, which may increase their children's developmental risk through maternal depression and negative parenting. The current study tests a conceptual model of the effects of community and contextual violence exposure on the mental health and parenting of young, African-American mothers living in Washington, DC. A path analysis revealed significant direct effects of witnessed and experienced violence on mothers' depressive symptoms and general aggression. Experiences of discrimination were also associated with increased depressive symptoms. Moreover, there were significant indirect effects of mothers' violence exposure on disciplinary practices through depression and aggression. These findings highlight the range of violence young African-American mothers are exposed to and how these experiences affect their mental health, particularly depressive symptoms, and thus disciplinary practices.
KW - Adolescent parenting
KW - African-American
KW - Aggression
KW - Community violence
KW - Depression
KW - Discipline
KW - Ethnic discrimination
KW - Mothers
KW - USA
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=74549135197&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=74549135197&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.10.048
DO - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.10.048
M3 - Article
C2 - 19932932
AN - SCOPUS:74549135197
VL - 70
SP - 526
EP - 533
JO - Social Science and Medicine
JF - Social Science and Medicine
SN - 0277-9536
IS - 4
ER -