RESUMO
Sexual harassment and participation in extracurricular activities are two common experiences for adolescents, yet little research examines the interplay between these two phenomena, particularly among low-income, racial/ethnic minority adolescents. This study examined whether participation in four types of extracurricular activities-school-based, structured community-based, unstructured community-based, and home-based-was associated with adolescents' PTSD and depressive symptoms over time, and whether those relations were mediated by neighborhood-based sexual harassment. Participants were 537 adolescents who were on average 15.6 years old, 54% girls, and majority Latino/a (n = 416; 77.5%). Path analyses revealed a significant indirect effect between unstructured community-based activities, but not structured community-based, school- nor home-based extracurricular activities and PTSD symptoms via sexual harassment. The findings point to the importance of examining how unstructured community-based extracurricular activities may increase neighborhood risks for adolescents, and the need for creating opportunities for adolescents to engage in structured and well supervised after-school extracurricular activities.
Assuntos
Assédio Sexual , Esportes , Feminino , Humanos , Adolescente , Masculino , Etnicidade , Grupos Minoritários , Instituições AcadêmicasRESUMO
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; Mage = 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.