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. 2015 Nov;30(8):967-976.
doi: 10.1007/s10896-015-9735-5. Epub 2015 Jun 9.

Family Violence Exposure and Sexual Risk-Taking Among Latino Emerging Adults: The Role of Posttraumatic Stress Symptomology and Acculturative Stress

Peter M Rivera  1 , Melinda A Gonzales-Backen  1 , Jennifer Yedlin  2 , Elissa J Brown  3 , Seth J Schwartz  4 , S Jean Caraway  5 , Robert S Weisskirch  6 , Su Yeong Kim  7 , Lindsay S Ham  8
Affiliations

Family Violence Exposure and Sexual Risk-Taking Among Latino Emerging Adults: The Role of Posttraumatic Stress Symptomology and Acculturative Stress

Peter M Rivera et al. J Fam Violence. 2015 Nov.

Abstract

This study proposes that posttraumatic stress symptomology and acculturative stress may further explain the relationship between family violence exposure and sexual risk-taking behaviors among Latino emerging adults (N=1,100). A moderated mediation analysis indicated that lifetime rates of family violence exposure were positively associated with sexual risk-taking via posttraumatic stress symptomology, and this mediation significantly varied as a function of acculturative stress. Overall, the findings of the current study underscore a need for a better understanding of how family violence exposure puts Latino emerging adults at risk for aversive health outcomes and suggest the use of an ecological systemic framework that examines the interactions between family, individual, and cultural systems in relation to health risk-taking behaviors.

Keywords: Child maltreatment; Cultural processes; Culture; Public health; Trauma.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Conceptual diagram of the proposed moderated mediation model of family violence exposure, posttraumatic stress symptomology, and acculturative stress in relation to sexual risk-taking
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The association between posttraumatic stress symptomology and sexual risk-taking at low (−1 Standard Deviation), mean, and high (+1 Standard Deviation) levels of acculturative stress
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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