Perpetrator characteristics and firearm use in pediatric homicides: Supplementary Homicide Reports - United States, 1976 to 2020.

BACKGROUND: Describe trends in perpetrator characteristics and firearm use in pediatric homicides across the United States. METHODS: Multiply-imputed data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's 1976-2020 Supplementary Homicide Reports were used to estimate perpetrator characteristics (sex, age, and relationship to victim) and firearm use in pediatric homicides. Descriptive analyses were stratified by victim age group, sex, race, and five-year time periods. RESULTS: Family members were the most common perpetrator of infant and toddler (ages 0-4) and child (ages 5-12) homicides, whereas acquaintances accounted for the majority of adolescent (ages 13-19) homicides. Perpetrator characteristics vary across victim sex and race, particularly among adolescents. Despite overall stability, there were changes in perpetrator characteristics from 1976 to 2020. There was a sustained increase in the proportion of homicides committed with a firearm. In 2016-2020, the proportion of firearm-involved homicides was an all-time high for infant and toddler (14.8%), child (53.1%), and adolescent victims (88.5%). CONCLUSIONS: Policy interventions that improve family stability and well-being may be most effective at preventing infant, toddler, and child homicides, whereas programs that target peer and community relationships, as well as policies that focus on firearm access, may be more crucial for preventing adolescent homicides.

Adolescent Mental Health and Resilience Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

PURPOSE: We aimed to assess levels of depression, anxiety, and resilience factors before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in a school sample of adolescents. We also aimed to examine the compensatory and protective effects of individual, family, and school resilience factors on adolescent mental health. METHODS: We used fall 2019 and fall 2020 survey responses from a cluster randomized controlled trial implemented in 20 schools in a Midwestern county. The sample consisted of 3,085 responses from students in grades 5 and 6. Multilevel mixed-effects models with cluster robust standard errors were used to investigate the associations between exposure to the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health (anxiety, depression), and resilience factors (future orientation, family engagement, and having a caring school adult). RESULTS: Anxiety, but not depression, was higher in fall 2020 compared to fall 2019. Family engagement increased during the pandemic, while future orientation of the student body was lower during that time and the prevalence of having a caring adult at school was unchanged. A positive future orientation was associated with lower levels of anxiety and depression, while having a caring school adult was associated with lower depression. Adolescents with less positive future orientations, low family engagement, and no caring school adults experienced the greatest increases in anxiety. DISCUSSION: Positive future orientations, family engagement, and supportive nonparental adult relationships had compensatory and protective effects on adolescent mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Adding these measures to the inventory of modifiable resilience factors during natural disasters may promote healthy adaptation among adolescents.

The Disproportionate Mental Health Burden Among Incarcerated Transgender and Gender Diverse People.

This article examines the distribution of self-reported mental health conditions and clinical contact among incarcerated transgender and gender diverse (TGD) individuals compared to cisgender women and men. Data are derived from the 2016 Survey of Prison Inmates. Results indicate that TGD respondents report more mental health symptoms, conditions, and clinical contact than their cisgender counterparts. The findings have important implications for the mental health disadvantages experienced by TGD people currently in prison.

Incarceration exposure and epigenetic aging in neighborhood context.

OBJECTIVE: Research has implicated incarceration exposure as a social determinant of health, with recent work suggesting incarceration may trigger a stress response that accelerates physiological deterioration. The objective of the current study is to assess whether neighborhood stressors intensify the health consequences of incarceration exposure. METHODS: We test whether two neighborhood context measures - socioeconomic disadvantage and perceived crime - moderate the association between incarceration exposure and a measure of accelerated epigenetic aging based on the GrimAge index. Our sample included 408 African American young adults from the Family and Community Health study. RESULTS: Results from regression analyses with inverse probability of treatment weights suggest that incarceration exposure and neighborhood disadvantage are independently associated with accelerated biological aging. The results also show that the impact of incarceration exposure on accelerated aging is amplified for individuals in neighborhoods with higher levels of perceived crime. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that the neighborhood contexts where formerly incarcerated individuals return have a substantial impact on their pace of biological aging. Policies aimed at reducing ambient stressors after release may promote healthy aging among formerly incarcerated African American adults.

Losing Years Doing Time: Incarceration Exposure and Accelerated Biological Aging among African American Adults.

Research suggests that incarceration exposure increases the prevalence of morbidity and premature mortality. This work is only beginning to examine whether the stressors of the incarceration experience become biologically embedded in ways that affect physiological deterioration. Using data from a longitudinal sample of 410 African American adults in the Family and Community Health Study and an epigenetic index of aging, this study tests the extent to which incarceration accelerates epigenetic aging and whether experiences with violence moderate this association. Results from models that adjust for selection effects suggest that incarceration exposure predicted accelerated aging, leaving formerly incarcerated African American individuals biologically older than their calendar age. Direct experiences with violence also exacerbated the effects of incarceration. These findings suggest that incarceration possibly triggers a stress response that affects a biological signature of physiological deterioration.

Push and pushback: Control behavior as a precipitant of verbal and violent disputes.

We examine to what extent control behavior precipitates disputes involving adversaries in different social relationships. We hypothesize that disputes between intimate partners and illegal business partners are more likely than other disputes to involve control because they involve a higher level of interdependence between the participants. A sample of male inmates (n = 479) and nonoffenders (n = 206) were asked whether control behaviors (e.g., verbal commands) precipitated their most recent disputes (n = 1184). Bivariate probit regression models allowed us to examine mutual control as well as unilateral control. Disputes between intimate partners were more likely than disputes between adversaries in other relationships to be precipitated by mutual control, but not unilateral or one-sided control by men. Disputes between illegal business partners also predicted mutual control, but not unilateral control. Discussions of the motives for violence would benefit from consideration of the classic social psychological literature on power and influence.

The interpersonal context of depression and violent behavior: A social psychological interpretation.

Depression is a particularly prevalent form of psychopathology affecting millions of individuals worldwide. It is associated with a variety of adverse social and behavioral outcomes. Numerous observational studies have found that depressed individuals have significantly elevated rates of interpersonal violence. As of now, the social mechanisms that explain the association between depression and violence remain understudied and not well understood. Drawing on the aggression and social psychology literatures, we argue that depressed actors suffer skills deficits and exhibit hostile communication styles that provoke grievances and disputes. We suggest that, because of these interpersonal tendencies, depression increases involvement in verbal disputes, and that frequent participation in verbal disputes foments social contexts where interpersonal violence is more common. Findings from a series of regression models based on a nationally representative sample of 2171 respondents offer support for our assumptions. The study suggests a consideration of interpersonal dynamics, particularly verbal disputes, might unlock clues about the association between depression and violence involvement.