The contribution of political life events to psychological distress among South African adolescents

The psychological consequences of adverse political experiences among South African youth were studied in a sample of 540 black and white adolescents from age groups, evenly divided by gender. Three questionnaires were admini stered, measuring exposure to political life events, the presence of sympto ms symptoms of psychopathology, and stressful personal life events during t he previous 5 years. The first hypothesis, predicting a substantial contrib ution of stressful political experiences to psychopathology, was strongly s upported; when stressful personal life events were partialed out, a signifi cant effect for political life events remained both on general distress and symptomatology indices, The second hypothesis of a linear, elation between exposure to political life events and severity of distress was also confir med. The findings underscore the enduring impact on children's mental healt h of past apartheid policies in South Africa specifically, and adverse poli tical environments in general.