Posttraumatic stress symptoms as a mediating factor on the effects of exposure to community violence among children in Cape Town, South Africa.

Research conducted over the past 20 years has linked exposure to violence to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children both in the United States and South Africa, but very little research has investigated PTSD as a mediating variable between exposure to violence and other problems. The purpose of the current research was to determine if PTSD acts as a mediating variable between exposure to violence and depression, and exposure to violence and aggressive and violent behavior at school among a sample of 247 South African children. Regression analysis suggested that PTSD mediated the effects of exposure to violence on depression, whereas the effect of exposure to violence on aggression and violent behavior was only direct. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for intervention and treatment.