African American status offenders: The impact of trauma and family factors on mental health outcomes

This study examined the impact of exposure to trauma and family/parenting risk factors on mental health outcomes among African American status offenders. A cross-sectional research design was utilized. Gender differences were also evaluated. The sample was comprised of 46 females and 24 males who were referred to a diversion program. Court personnel administered the Global Risk Assessment Device (GRAD) via a structured interview with the youth as part of the intake process for the diversion program. In addition to the main items of the GRAD, the youth completed 40 demographic questions, including household composition and family income. It was hypothesized that female participants would report higher levels of risk on the exposure to trauma, family/parenting, and mental health subscales of the GRAD. Additionally, it was hypothesized that mental health outcomes would be predicted by knowledge of risks on exposure to trauma and family/parenting issues. Finally, the researcher posited that the trauma domain could be evaluated for two underlying factors: trauma witnesses and trauma victims. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) examined the gender differences on the three GRAD domains (exposure to trauma, family/parenting, and mental health). A set of univariate regression analyses was conducted to test the hypotheses related to predicting mental health outcomes. Finally, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted to examine the exposure to trauma domain more closely.; Results indicated that African American male and female status offenders did not report statistically different risk factors on exposure to trauma, family/parenting, and mental health, as measured by the GRAD. Knowledge of trauma exposure and family/parenting risk factors helped predict mental health outcomes for male and females. Finally, the exploratory factor analyses produced a chi-square goodness of fit that did not support existence of two factors on the trauma domain. The implications of these results are discussed.