Exposure to violence in young inner-city adolescents: Relationships with suicidal ideation, depression, and PTSD symptomatology

This study examined the relationship of exposure to violence to suicidal id eation, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatolog y in 94 young adolescents from an inner-city school. Participants completed self-report measures of the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale, the Suic idal Ideation Questionnaire-Junior, Adolescent Psychopathology Scale-Posttr aumatic Stress Disorder Subscale, and the Exposure to Violence Questionnair e. Using a hierarchical multiple regression design, exposure to violence de monstrated a unique relationship with PTSD symptomatology. Specifically, th e relationship between violence exposure and PTSD symptomatology remained s ignificant after controlling for depression and suicidal ideation severity. Controlling for PTSD symptomatology resulted in nonsignificant relationshi ps between violence exposure and depression and suicidal ideation in adoles cents. Additional analyses suggest that PTSD functions as a mediating varia ble between exposure to violence and depression and suicidal ideation. The implication of these results and suggestions for future research are discus sed.