Exposure to community violence and internalizing symptoms: The risk of substance use in African American youth

African American adolescents are often disproportionately exposed to community violence, which increases their risk of using substances and developing internalizing symptoms. While these associations are well established in the literature, a limited number of studies have examined substance use as a pathway for the development of internalizing symptoms following exposure to community violence. Using structural equation modeling (SEM) and a cross-sectional design, the current study aimed to explore whether exposure to community violence was associated with substance use. Then, the current study explored whether substance use mediated the association between exposure to community violence and internalizing symptoms while controlling for gender. The sample consisted of 668 African American adolescents from low-resourced neighborhoods in Chicago’s Southside. The sample areas were characterized as racially and socioeconomically homogeneous with an average annual income ranging from $24,049 to $35,946, with the city average being $43,628. Results suggested that exposure to community violence was positively associated with substance use. Substance use also mediated the association between exposure to community violence and internalizing symptoms. That is, following exposure to community violence, African American adolescents were more likely to use substances, which increased their susceptibility to developing internalizing symptoms despite gender differences.