J Nurs Meas 2000 Summer;8(1):61-70. Assessing abuse among the elderly living in public housing. Moody LE, Voss A, Lengacher CA. University of South Florida, College of Nursing, Tampa 33612, USA.
Abuse and victimization among the elderly have received increased attention in the last few years from practitioners, researchers, and policymakers but remain growing problems, especially for elders who live in public housing. This study assessed the psychometric properties of an existing instrument, the Hwalek-Sengstock Elder Abuse Screening Test (HSEAST), which has been tested in only two studies. The instrument was administered to 100 African American, Hispanic, and White elders living in public housing. Study results were compared to findings from a previous study of elderly groups. A principal components factor analysis of the 15-item instrument supported the 3-factor structure for a total of 10 items (factor loadings = 0.4 or >), explaining 38% of the variance. A discriminant function analysis showed that 6 items were as effective as the 9-item model in classifying cases (71.4%) as abused.
J Pediatr 2000 Nov;137(5):707-13. Exposure to violence and victimization, depression, substance use, and the use of violence by young adolescents. Durant RH, Altman D, Wolfson M, Barkin S, Kreiter S, Krowchuk D. Department of Pediatrics, The Brenner Center for Child and Adolescent Health, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157, USA.
OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationships among exposure to violence; tobacco, alcohol, and other substance use; depression; church attendance; and the use of violence among very young adolescents. METHODS: An 86-item confidential questionnaire was administered to 722 sixth grade students (mean age = 11.9+/-0.8 years) attending 4 middle schools serving neighborhoods in and around public housing. RESULTS: Boys had a higher mean violence scale score than girls (P < or =.0001), and students living in public housing had higher violence scale scores than other students (P< or =.0001). Self-reported use of violence was significantly associated with exposure to violence (r =.45); age (r =.28); frequency of church attendance (r = -.14); depression (r =.28); the probability of being alive at age 25 (r = -.09); the frequency of use of cigarettes (r =.39), alcohol (r =.37), and multiple substances (r =.38); and interest in a gang (r =.37). When all of these variables were analyzed with multiple linear regression, multiple substance use, exposure to violence, interest in a gang, male gender, cigarette smoking, and depression level accounted for 49.7% of the variation in the use of violence scale. CONCLUSION: Recent multiple substance use and lifetime exposure to violence and victimization were the strongest correlates with the frequency that these youth reported using violence and carrying weapons.
