Psychological health and academic success in rural Appalachian adolescents exposed to physical and sexual interpersonal violence.

We present baseline rates of each form of IPV for these rural male and female adolescents and assessed the strength and statistical significance of these associations between physical and sexual IPV and other risk factors using χ2 tests and relative risk ratios. Results suggested that each form of IPV was associated with greater risk for depression and suicidal behaviors, substance use, risky sexual behaviors for both sexes, and lower academic grades for females. Relative risk ratios tended to be more robust and statistic ally significant for females compared with males on most risk behaviors. Furthermore, victimization for both forms of IPV was more pernicious for these students than either form of IPV alone. We discuss the implications of these results for students, parents, school personnel, and mental health prov iders in these communities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Source: American Journal of Orthopsychiatry - May 4, 2016 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Martz, Denise M.; Jameson, John Paul; Page, Amy Dellinger Source Type: research