Professor Helen Fisher discusses the impact of experiencing violence during adolescence on mental health at the transition to adulthood.
With an increase in reported knife and other violent crime, it appears that many young people are now more likely to experience violence during adolescence. While this inevitably will have short-term implications for their mental health, it is also important to consider the longer-term impact of this.
In this episode I speak to Professor Helen Fisher who, with colleagues, conducted an analysis of the Environmental Risk Longitudinal Twin Study to explore this question. They found evidence of the harm it causes, but also of the mitigating impact of social support on mental health problems, highlighting the important role for social work in this field.
Helen is a Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience within King’s College London. She co-leads the UKRI Violence, Abuse and Mental Health Network and a programme leader for the ESRC Centre for Society and Mental Health. Her multidisciplinary research focuses on the role of social, psychological, biological, and wider environmental factors in the development, course, and prevention of mental health problems in young people.
The full text of the paper we discuss can be found here:
The peer researchers involved in this paper also wrote a blog post about this paper which provides a great insight into their experiences.
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