DOI: 10.3886/icpsr37359.v1
title: A Longitudinal Investigation of Trauma Exposure, Retraumatization, and Post-Traumatic Stress of Justice-Involved Adolescents [Maricopa County, AZ and Philadelphia County, PA], 2000-2010
title: Version 1

description: This study examined the evolution of exposure to violence and psychological distress among adolescents using a sample of 1,354 male and female youths who completed a baseline assessment and 10 follow-up interviews over a seven-year period as part of the Pathways to Desistence study. Statistical analyses were utilized to identify a taxonomy based on adolescents' patterns of exposure to violence as well as to explore the association between the analytically-identified exposure to violence patterns and various psychological symptoms. Additional models were analyzed to examine changes in exposure to violence over time, changes in psychological distress over time, the contemporaneous, parallel processes of changes in exposure to violence and psychological distress over time, and differences in the evolution of violence exposure and psychological distress across sex and race/ethnicity.
description: The purpose of this study was to provide greater understanding of trauma exposure, retraumatization, and trauma-related psychological distress among justice-involved adolescents. The specific objectives were to describe the prevalence and patterns of trauma exposure as well as the types of psychological symptoms most strongly associated with trauma exposure, to identify and describe trajectories of trauma exposure and trauma symptoms across the adolescent period from ages 16-23 years among justice-involved adolescents, and to test whether the trajectories of trauma exposure and trauma symptoms are related over time and examine differences in trajectories across sex and race/ethnicity.
description: Researchers used data from Pathways to Desistance to measure trauma exposure and psychological distress of participants. Trauma exposure was based on youth responses using a modified version of the Exposure to Violence (ETV) Inventory. The exposure to violence measure contains two subscales, one subscale (experiencing exposure to violence) included six items documenting experienced violence, the second subscale (witnessing exposure to violence) contained seven items documenting witnessed or observed violence. Psychological distress was measured using youth scores on the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) scales. General psychological distress, scored as the Global Severity Index (GSI), was measured using the mean of youth scores across the nine subscales. Bivariate analyses examined the associations between bivariate analyses of ETV items and symptom subscales at the baseline assessment. In addition, associations between youth ETV scores and global psychological distress were examined across all follow-up waves. Following the bivariate analyses of ETV items and symptom subscales, latent class analysis (LCA) was utilized to analytically identify a taxonomy based on adolescents' patterns of responses to ETV items. The association between ETV and global psychological distress was further explored using parallel-process latent growth curve modeling, which is an extension of latent growth curve modeling (LGM). Lastly, multi-group LGM was employed to examine differences across sex and race/ethnicity.
description: Response Rates: Research on Pathways to Desistance [Maricopa County, AZ and Philadelphia County, PA]: Subject Measures, 2000-2010 had an average response rate for 89.5 percent for each follow-up interview.
description: Presence of Common Scales: Exposure to Violence (ETV) Inventory Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) Global Severity Index (GSI)
description: The study utilized 10 waves of data collected between 2000 and 2010 from 1,354 male and female participants of the Pathways to Desistance, a longitudinal study that included adolescents that had been found guilty of a serious offense in U.S. juvenile or adult court in Philadelphia County, PA (Philadelphia) or Maricopa County, AZ (Phoenix). There were many more male participants (86.4%) in the study than female (13.6%) participants, and the youths ranged in ages from 14 to 18 years (M = 16.04, SD = 1.14). There were more African American (41%, n = 561) than Caucasian American (20%, n = 274) participants, and of the participants, 34% (n = 454) were Hispanic (regardless of race) and 5% (n = 65) reported their race/ethnicity as other.
description: Datasets: DS1: A Longitudinal Investigation of Trauma Exposure, Retraumatization, and Post-Traumatic Stress of Justice-Involved Adolescents [Maricopa County, AZ and Philadelphia County, PA], 2000-2010
description: Youths 14-19 years of age from the juvenile and adult court systems in Maricopa County (Phoenix), Arizona, and Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania from November 2000 to April 2003. Smallest Geographic Unit: County
description: computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI)This study references data from Research on Pathways to Desistance [Maricopa County, AZ and Philadelphia County, PA]: Subject Measures, 2000-2010 (ICPSR 29961).