The Impact of Family- And Community-Level Victimization on the Mental Health of Female Substance Users: Results from a National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health

Data for this study were drawn from quantitative analyses derived from secondary statistics from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health [Add Health], which is a longitudinal study of a nationally representative sample of adolescents in grades 7-12 in the United States. The purpose of our study is to address multiple selfreported victimization among a sample of women who have reported using illicit substances, and the extent to which type of victimization affects psychological maladaptation. This study extends current investigations on patterns of victimization among high-risk women to examine the linkage between violent victimization and mental health status as risk factors. Our hypothesis is Women who report substance use that have experienced family- and community-level victimization during their lifetime will exhibit higher levels of mental health problems as emotional outcomes/psychological maladaptation over and above sociodemographic factors including race and those characteristic of reduced social class [extreme poverty]. In sum, results show that for mental health complications, select indicators of childhood victimization and community-level or weapon-related victimization explained variance over and above sociodemographic factors as measured by race and social class indicators. As these outcomes display, accounts of depression, sadness, and other forms of symptomatology are higher when substance-using women report childhood neglect, childhood sexual abuse, and environmental stressors, which is consistent with previous research. Policy implications and suggestions for future research are addressed. Keywords: Illicit Substance Use; Emotional Outcomes; Victimization Experiences; Women