Community Violence Exposure, Threat Appraisal, and Adjustment in Adolescents

Validity data are presented for a new measure of threat appraisals in response to community violence. Adolescents (N=358; 45% male; 91% African American, M=12.10 years, SD=1.63) and their maternal caregivers participated in two waves of a longitudinal interview study focused on the consequences of exposure to community violence. Structural equation modeling revealed that a six-factor correlated model best fit the data, indicating that the six subscales of the threat appraisal measure represent distinct but related constructs. The factor structure was invariant across age and gender. Exposure to violence was associated prospectively with caregiver- and adolescent-rated adjustment problems. Each of the six threat appraisals mediated links between exposure to violence at Wave 1 and adolescent-rated internalizing adjustment problems 1 year later.