Age as a Dynamic Moderator of Relations between Exposure to Political Conflict and Mental Health in Belfast, Northern Ireland

Christine E. Merrilees, Laura K. Taylor, Marcie C. Goeke-Morey, Peter Shirlow and E. Mark Cummings
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Christine E. Merrilees: Psychology Department, State University of New York, Geneseo, NY 14454, USA
Laura K. Taylor: School of Psychology, University College Dublin, D04 V1W8 Dublin, Ireland
Marcie C. Goeke-Morey: Psychology Department, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC 20064, USA
Peter Shirlow: School of Histories, Languages, and Cultures, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3BX, UK
E. Mark Cummings: Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 14, 1-11

Abstract: Identifying how, when, and under what conditions exposure to political conflict is associated with youth mental health problems is critical to developing programming to help youth exposed to various forms of political violence. The current study uses Time Varying Effects Modeling (TVEM) to examine how relations between exposure to ethno-politically motivated antisocial behavior and mental health problems change as a function of age in a sample of youth from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Young people ( N = 583, M age 16.51 wave 1, 17.23 wave 2) self-reported their exposure to sectarian antisocial behavior, nonsectarian antisocial behavior, and mental health problems as part of a longitudinal study of youth across multiple neighborhoods in Belfast. The results suggest mental health problems and associations with exposure to sectarian antisocial behavior change in nonlinear patterns throughout adolescence, with the strongest links between exposure to political conflict and mental health between ages 16 and 19. Significant relations between nonsectarian antisocial behavior and mental health problems were not indicated for the full sample but the results suggested a relation emerged in later adolescence for Protestant youth, the historical majority group. The value of this exploratory approach to examining relations between key context and psychological variables for youth in contexts of political tension and violence is discussed.

Keywords: developmental psychopathology; TVEM; political violence; dynamic change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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