Exposure to violence and victimization, depression, substance use, and theuse of violence by young adolescents

Objective: To examine the relationships among exposure to violence; tobacco , alcohol, and other substance use; depression; church attendance; and the use of violence among very young adolescents. Methods: An 86-item confidential questionnaire was administered to 722 sixt h grade students (mean age = 11.9 +/- 0.8 years) attending 4 middle schools selling neighborhoods in and around public housing. Results: Boys had a higher mean violence scale score than girls (P less tha n or equal to .0001), and students living in public housing had higher viol ence scale scores than other students (P less than or equal to .0001). Self -reported use of violence was significantly associated with exposure to vio lence (r = .45); age (r = .28); frequency: of church attendance (r = -.14); depression (r = .28); the probability of being alive at age 25 (r = -.09); the frequency of use of cigarettes (r = .39), alcohol (r = .37), and multi ple substances (r = .38); and interest in a gang (r = .37). When all of the se variables were analyzed with multiple linear regression, multiple substa nce use, exposure to violence, interest in a gang, male gender, cigarette s moking, and depression level accounted for 49.7% of the variation in the us e of violence scale. Conclusion: Recent multiple substance use and lifetime exposure to violence and victimization were the strongest correlates with the frequency that th ese youth reported using violence and carrying weapons.