Victimization, perception of insecurity, and changes in daily routines in Mexico

The association between victimization experiences and suicidality: The mediating roles of sleep and depression

BACKGROUND

Prior work suggests that multiple forms of victimization were associated with higher suicide risk among adolescents. However, the mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear. The present study aimed to understand the relationships between the multiple forms of victimization and suicidality by examining the potential mediators of sleep duration and depression.

METHODS

Data for this study came from the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). The hypothesized mediation model included 13,677 American adolescents in 9th through 12th-grade students (48.6 % female) were analyzed using Mplus 7.4, and suicidality (including suicidal ideation, plan, and attempts) as the outcome variables and the multiple forms of victimization (including bullying at school, being threatened at school, electronic bullying, sexual victimization, sexual dating victimization, and physical dating victimization) as the main explanatory variable.

RESULTS

The relationships between the multiple forms of victimization and suicide risk were mediated by sleep duration, depression, and also serially mediated by sleep duration and depression.

LIMITATIONS

This is a cross-sectional study, and the results cannot inform the causality between these variables. This investigation only included adolescent sleep duration, and other specific sleep problem indicators should be included.

CONCLUSIONS

Longer sleep duration is an important protective factor, pointing the way forward for developing suicide prevention strategies and targeted interventions for adolescents.

Robbery Victimization in Early Adulthood, and Depression and Anxiety at Age 30 Years: Results From the 1982 Pelotas (Brazil) Birth Cohort Study

Robbery is one of the most common urban crimes, but little is known about its relationship with mental disorders in young adults. This study aimed to assess the relationship between robbery victimization and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and comorbidity between MDD and GAD at 30 years of age. A birth cohort study has followed all children born in the city of Pelotas, southern Brazil, since 1982. At ages 23 and 30 years, participants were interviewed and asked about lifetime and recent experiences of robbery. Covariates were measured in interviews between birth and age 30 years. MDD and GAD were measured using the MINI-International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR) and corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) for associations between robbery and mental disorders were calculated using Poisson regression with robust standard error. Of 3,701 cohort members interviewed at age 30 years, 42% reported robbery victimization during their lifetime. Victimization across three periods (lifetime, past 10 years, past 12 months) was associated with increased occurrence of MDD, GAD, as well as the MDD and GAD comorbidity. The strongest associations were found to robbery occurring in the previous 12 months with the MDD and GAD comorbidity, both for burglary at home (aPR 2.52; 95% CI 1.52-4.22) or community family victimization (aPR 2.10; 95% CI 1.34-3.27). These findings highlight the importance of community violence for mental health in young adulthood, and the need for public policies to prevent violence as well as support services for victims to mitigate its adverse health consequences.

Neighborhood social environment and disability among Mexican older adults: a cohort-based analysis

Considering that the world population is rapidly aging and disability is a very frequent event in older adults, there is an increasing interest in studying their determinants, such as the neighborhood characteristics. Thus, this study aimed to explore the association between the social environment of the neighborhood and disability in older adults. A cohort study was assembled using waves 1 and 2 from the Study of Global Ageing and Adults Health (SAGE) in Mexico, which included adults with 55+ years old. Neighborhood characteristics - such as social participation, trust and safety - and individual covariates were measured only in wave 1 (baseline), while disability was measured in both waves to adjust for the score of wave 1. Multilevel negative binomial models with random intercepts at the municipality level were constructed for the disability score in wave 2, using each of the social environment variables as the main exposure and adjusting for the sociodemographic and health-related variables. Finally, interaction terms with sex, age, and socioeconomic quintiles were tested. Results showed that neighborhoods with a medium (IRR: 0.68; 95%CI: 0.53-0.87) or high (IRR: 0.67; 95%CI: 0.52-0.86) safety level were associated with a significant reduction in the disability score of adults older than 75 years, although there was no association between other characteristics of the social environment and disability in the general sample. Consequently, actions to improve safety in the neighborhoods should be carried out to help reduce the disability score in vulnerable older adults, especially in a context where safety is a critical issue, as in Mexico.

High Life Satisfaction: Exploring the Role of Health, Social Integration and Perceived Safety among Mexican Midlife and Older Adults

We sought to investigate the relationship of high life satisfaction with important physical health, mental health, social integration and perceived safety factors among midlife and older Mexican adults. We examined 2,200 midlife and older adults (aged 50-101 years) from the Mexican arm of the Study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE) and used binary logistic regression models to identify key factors associated with high LSA. Our final logistic regression model revealed self-rated health, affect, interpersonal activities and perceived safety on street to be significantly associated with high life satisfaction. Results from this study add to the nascent literature on subjective well-being of midlife and older Mexicans. Although social work with older adults is not well established in Mexico, researchers and practitioners should collaborate on the development and implementation of social worker-led strategies for prevention and intervention to enhance well-being among midlife and older Mexicans.

Confianza, victimización y desorden en la percepción de inseguridad en los mexicanos

El análisis del miedo al delito es de suma importancia en el campo de la criminología. Estudios internacionales previos encontraron que las relaciones entre los modelos del miedo al crimen y la percepción de inseguridad perviven en las personas sin importar dónde se encuentren éstas. Por ello, en el presente trabajo se tomaron en consideración tres factores: victimización, confianza y desorden, para examinar su influencia sobre la percepción de inseguridad en los mexicanos. Utilizando datos de la Encuesta Nacional de Victimización de Percepción sobre Seguridad 2016 del Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía en México (INEGI), se hizo un análisis de regresión múltiple, donde se indica que dichos factores tienen un impacto directo en el sentimiento de inseguridad ciudadano. Asimismo, de acuerdo con los estudios previos del miedo al delito, la población mexicana también muestra una tendencia a tener efectos de estos modelos. Particularmente, la percepción de seguridad disminuye cuando los ciudadanos han sido victimizados con anterioridad y cuando existe desorden social en sus comunidades.