An Investigation of the Relationships between Violence Exposure, Internalizing and Externalizing Problems, and Adolescent Alcohol Use

TL;DRAbstract

Adolescent Alcohol Use (AAU) is widespread and potentially harmful to the health of youth. Substantial research and theoretical development suggest that both violence exposure and internalizing and externalizing problems of adolescents are associated with AAU. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the roles of internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescents to determine if the two types of symptoms are differential mediators of the link between violence exposure and AAU for females and males. Using Developmental Systems Theory as a framework, three primary hypotheses were examined: 1) Increased violence exposure at home and in the community are associated with increased AAU in both females and in males; 2) Internalizing problems mediate the relationship between home/community violence exposure and AAU for females; and 3) Externalizing problems mediate the relationship between home/community violence exposure and AAU for males. The secondary dataset that was utilized

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