The relationship between chronic community violence exposure, pathology, and adolescent male juvenile crime: Clinical implications for assessment, diagnosis, treatment and prevention

Exposure to community violence has become an unacceptable common part of the lives of many children and adolescents living in the United States. Exposure to community violence has been shown to have mental health effects on children and adolescents that include internalizing disorders. This study (1) assessed the relationship between chronic community violence exposure, pathology, and juvenile crime, and (2) examined the way in which symptoms present in children and adolescents, symptom overlap, comorbidity, and clinician bias as identified factors in assessment that contribute to errors in assessment and diagnoses in a juvenile delinquent population of adolescents.; In this study 70 male juvenile offenders participated. Demographic information was obtained that included the participant's crime history and severity, as well as psychological reports. Participants were then assessed for internalizing and externalizing disorders using a structured clinical interview. Finally, participants were assessed for community violence exposure. Analyses were performed to assess the relationship between community violence exposure, mental illness, criminal history, and criminal severity. Prevalence rates and diagnostic agreement between clinician assessments and a structured clinical interview were assessed. Finally, errors in comorbid diagnoses were analyzed using a symptom overlap analysis.; The study found that higher levels of exposure to violence had a significant relationship with internalizing and externalizing disorders and crime severity. Exposure to violence was not found to have a significant relationship with crime history. With the exception of ADHD being diagnoses at a higher rate through DJJ evaluations, there was otherwise no difference found in diagnostic prevalence. In addition, with the exception of depression, there was found to be poor agreement between the two methods of assessment.