Esposizione alla violenza in contesti multipli e sintomi post-traumatici da stress: uno studio con adolescenti

Recent research studies have shown the association between exposure to violence and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTS). The aim of this study was to investigate the nature of this relationship, examining the specific association between the different contexts of violence (home, school, neighborhood, media) and the status of violence (victim, witness), and PTS symptoms. Moreover we evaluated the cumulative effects of the simultaneous exposure to violence in multiple contexts. The study involved 725 adolescents, attending the first year of secondary school. Results revealed that: i) increasing of exposure to violence leads to a corresponding heightened PTS symptoms; ii) all violent contexts, except those related to media, are significantly and positively associated with PTS symptoms; iii) both being victim and being witness of violence were significantly associated with PTS symptoms; iv) there was a response-dose effect of the exposure to multiple sources of violence on PTS symptoms.