Abstract
<p>Community violence exposure (witnessing or directly experiencing violence in the neighborhood) during childhood is linked to psychopathology risk, yet most research relies on composite scores that obscure associations between specific exposures and symptoms. Using network analysis on the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (N=380), we examined item-level associations between violence exposures (age 8) and mental health symptoms (age 16). Network analysis models exposures and symptoms as interconnected nodes, and centrality measures each node’s connectedness to others. Victimization showed more associations with symptoms than witnessing, and violence exposures showed more associations with externalizing and trauma than internalizing symptoms. Specific exposures showed distinct symptom patterns: threats of stabbing predicted aggression and hostility, threats of death predicted emotion dysregulation, and threats of shooting predicted interpersonal difficulties. A centrality-weighted exposure score outperformed total exposure frequency in predicting mental health burden. These findings underscore the value of accounting for heterogeneity in violence exposure.</p>