Latino/a adolescents facing neighborhood dangers: An examination of community violence and gender-based harassment

While ample research examines community violence as a serious public health problem that disproportionately affects minority adolescents, less attention focuses on adolescents' experiences of gender-based harassment in poor, urban neighborhoods. Using data from 416 urban, low-income Latino/a adolescents (53% female; M-age = 15.5), this study examined (a) the relations between community violence exposure (CVE), gender-based harassment, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and (b) the role of parent-child cohesion as a moderator of the relations between CVE/harassment and PTSD symptoms. Whereas both CVE and gender-based harassment were associated with greater PTSD symptoms, the effect of gender-based harassment on PTSD symptoms was far greater than the effect of community violence. Additionally, the association between gender-based harassment and PTSD symptoms was exacerbated when parent-child cohesion was high, compared to when cohesion was low or average. Finally, Latino/a adolescents exposed to high levels of both CVE and gender-based harassment had worse PTSD symptoms compared to those exposed primarily to gender-based harassment, who in turn had worse PTSD symptoms than those exposed primarily to community violence. Findings highlight the importance of including adolescents' experiences with gender-based harassment when studying community violence.