Adolescents as witnesses to violence

A questionnaire, adapted from Gladstein assessed the teen's personal witnessing of certain violent acts or personal knowledge of victims of violent acts. The population as a whole personally knew more victims of violence compared to having actually witnessed violent acts. More than one-third of the surveyed population responded positively to each question about knowing victims, except with regard to victims of rape. Our study was conducted in a general adolescent medicine clinic in a large Midwestern city, and our data were compared to those of a previous study done in Baltimore, Maryland. Both studies showed similar positive responses in 10 of the 18 items surveyed. Further study is needed to determine the potential impact of this widespread exposure to violence on psychosocial functioning.