This research was conducted in partnership with a Nova Scotain Mi’kmaq (First Nation)
community that was interested in learning more about how exposure to violence (EV)
might be related to youth alcohol use. There are many consequences of childhood
exposure to violence (EV), but two of the more notable consequences of EV are
posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms and excessive or problematic alcohol misuse. Given
the strong relationship in the literature between each of the PTS symptom clusters and
alcohol problems, it was hypothesized that these symptom clusters would mediate the
relationship between EV and alcohol misuse. Study 1 demonstrated that PTS
hyperarousal symptoms, but none of the other PTS symptoms, fully mediated the
relationship between EV and alcohol misuse, even after controlling for depressive
symptoms, age and gender. The literature on EV also demonstrates that despite its
numerous potential negative consequences, some youth continue to thrive. This thriving
in the face of hardship is called resilience. Study 2 employed a direct measure of
resilience (Child and Youth Resilience Measure; Ungar et al, 2008) to examine which if
any aspects of resilience can successfully buffer youth from experiencing negative mental
health consequences after EV. Study 2 demonstrated that all three aspects of resilience
(i.e., individual, family, and community) moderated the relationship between EV and
PTS reexperiencing symptoms. More specifically, at higher levels of resilience, the
positive relationship between EV and PTS reexperiencing symptoms was dampened.
Study 3 documented the collaborative-research process from beginning (i.e., research
question formation) to end (i.e., implementation of action-based recommendations). It
highlighted how the research questions outlined in Studies 1 and 2 were relevant to both
the specific community in question, as well as some Aboriginal communities more
broadly. It also highlighted how the first author participated in a research process that is
described by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) as Integrated Knowledge
Translation (KT). And finally, it identified via qualitative and quantitative methods how
the research process as a whole has helped equip the community with more tools to tackle
the problems that its members have identified as important for study and change.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:NSHD.ca#10222/13834 |
| Date | 17 May 2011 |
| Creators | Zahradnik, Marc |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
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