Research Symposium

BIO

My name is Filomena Kinnare and I am from St. Augustine, Florida. I am a Senior at Florida State University. I am currently on the pre-med track and am excited to share my second research project.

Examining Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms as a Link Between Juvenile Victimization and Aggression

Abstract

Individuals who have experienced childhood victimization are at increased risk for negative consequences to their health and overall wellbeing in adulthood. Such consequences include trauma-related disorders like posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a debilitating disorder that complicates interpersonal effectiveness. As such, prior research has indicated a relationship between PTSD and aggression. Despite the substantial literature examining PTSD and aggression, few studies have examined this relationship in adults who endorse victimization in childhood. As such this study aims to explore this relationship to further understand the relationship between juvenile victimization, PTSD, and aggressive behavior. 504 participants who endorsed direct trauma exposure were recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk Cloud Research platform. Participants completed self-report questionnaires assessing PTSD symptoms, aggression, and prior juvenile victimization. Results revealed a positive and significant correlation between PTSD symptoms and aggression (r =.49, p<.001). Furthermore, a significant indirect relationship between juvenile victimization and aggression through PTSD symptoms was also found (ACME = .26, 95% CI [0.19, 0.34]). Our findings indicate that PTSD may act as a mechanistic link between juvenile victimization and aggressive behavior, potentially providing directly into how we help and treat individuals that have suffered from childhood victimization.

Keywords: Child Victimization, Aggresstion, PTSD,