Exposure to community violence and upper respiratory illness in older adolescents

Abstract 

Purpose

To examine the relationship between exposure to chronic community violence and upper respiratory illness (URI) symptoms among urban adolescents of color; and to test the generality of a model of the relationship between social stress and URI.

Method

The research used a cross-sectional correlational design. The sample was 769 first-semester first-year students in an urban nonresidential 4-year college from the academic years 1999–2002. Data were collected by a group-administered questionnaire in academic classes. The research used three multi-item additive scales (each with high reliability and validity): exposure to community violence, psychological distress, and URI symptoms. Multiple regression procedures were used to analyze the data.

Results

Positive correlations were obtained between: exposure to community violence and reporting of URI (r = .19), exposure and psychological distress (r = .22), and psychological distress and URI (r = .51). The relationship between exposure to community violence and URI is greatly reduced when level of psychological distress is statistically controlled.

Conclusions

Exposure to community violence is related to experiencing URI symptoms among older urban adolescents of color; the effect size of the relationship is small-medium. Psychological distress mediates the impact of exposure to community violence on URI. The findings expand the range of social stressors that are empirically related to URI, and populations in which a relationship between social stressors and URI may be found.

Keywords:  Adolescent , Community violence , Upper respiratory illness , Physical illness , Psychological distress , Minority