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Prevalence and mental health outcomes of homicide survivors in a representative US sample of adolescents: data from the 2005 National Survey of Adolescents
Author(s) -
Rheingold Alyssa A.,
Zinzow Heidi,
Hawkins Alesia,
Saunders Benjamin E.,
Kilpatrick Dean G.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of child psychology and psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.652
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1469-7610
pISSN - 0021-9630
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02491.x
Subject(s) - homicide , mental health , psychiatry , suicide prevention , poison control , injury prevention , psychology , depression (economics) , occupational safety and health , logistic regression , population , human factors and ergonomics , substance abuse , medicine , survivorship curve , clinical psychology , medical emergency , environmental health , pathology , economics , macroeconomics
Background: Each homicide leaves behind several friends and family members, or homicide survivors. However, limited information is available on the impact of homicide on adolescent survivors. The purpose of the current study was to identify the prevalence of homicide survivorship and to determine mental health outcomes within a sample of US adolescent survivors. Methods: A nationally representative sample of American adolescents ( N = 3,614) between the ages of 12 and 17 completed structured telephone interviews assessing homicide survivorship and mental health consequences including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, drug use, and alcohol abuse. Results: Reported prevalence within this sample of losing a loved one to criminal homicide was 9%, losing a loved one to vehicular homicide was 7%, and losing a loved one to both types of homicide was 2%. Logistic regression analyses found that adolescents who reported being homicide survivors were significantly more likely to report depression, drug use, and alcohol abuse after controlling for demographic factors and other violence exposure. Conclusions: If the results from this study are generalizable to the US population, roughly 1 in 5 American adolescents may be impacted by homicide. Further, adolescents exposed to such a loss are at increased risk for mental health sequelae. Results suggest that greater attention needs to be paid to address the needs of these often underserved victims.