Akunzirwe, Rebecca;
Carter, Daniel J;
Hanna, Lauren;
Zinke-Allmang, Anja;
Akim, Aggrey;
Datzberger, Simone;
Parkes, Jenny;
... Bhatia, Amiya; + view all
(2024)
Associations between violence in childhood, depression and suicide attempts in adolescence: evidence from a cohort study in Luwero district, Uganda.
BMC Public Health
, 24
, Article 3405. 10.1186/s12889-024-20950-7.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: Many studies have documented an association between violence victimisation and poor mental health. However, few studies use longitudinal data from low- and middle-income countries with attention to how associations differ by experiencing specific types of violence or alongside different contexts of peer and family support. In this study, we quantify the association between experiences of violence in early adolescence and depression and suicide attempts in late adolescence and explore whether this association is modified by family and peer connectedness. METHODS: Data came from the Contexts of Violence Against Children (CoVAC) cohort study in Luwero District, Uganda, involving 2773 participants aged 11–14 years at Wave 1 (2014) and 15–18 years at Wave 2 (2018). Physical, sexual, and emotional violence were measured at Wave 1. Mental health outcomes, depression symptoms in the past two weeks, and lifetime suicide attempts were measured at Wave (2) We used logistic regression models, stratified by sex, to estimate adjusted odds ratios with an interaction term to test for effect modification by peer and family connectedness at Wave 1. FINDINGS: At Wave 1, the prevalence of any violence from any perpetrator was 90% (physical violence: 87%, physical violence excluding caning: 68%, sexual violence: 6.3%, emotional violence: 56.8%). At Wave 2, 13.3% of participants had scores indicative of depression and 4.3% reported ever attempting suicide. Physical violence excluding caning, emotional violence, and sexual violence during early adolescence increased the odds of depression and attempting suicide in late adolescence for both boys and girls. Experiencing any violence (including caning) in early adolescence was not associated with depression in late adolescence, including in sex-stratified models. Childhood experience of any violence was associated with a suicide attempt violence in early adolescence (aOR: 2.60; 95%CI: 1.08, 6.27). High peer support mitigated the effect of any violence and physical violence on depression. CONCLUSIONS: Findings highlight the importance of efforts to prevent violence and improve access to response and support services for violence and mental health for young people. Findings also underscore the important role friends and peer networks can play in mitigating the effects of violence as young people grow up.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Associations between violence in childhood, depression and suicide attempts in adolescence: evidence from a cohort study in Luwero district, Uganda |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1186/s12889-024-20950-7 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-20950-7 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Violence against children, Child health, Adolescent health, Suicide, Mental health, LMICs, Longitudinal, Cohort |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Education, Practice and Society |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10202612 |
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