Exposure to multiple forms of violence, or poly-victimization, has profound implications for the development of psychosocial outcomes. Individuals who are poly-victimized are at increased risk negative academic and psychological outcomes, including decreased academic performance, lower self-efficacy, and greater anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Violence Exposure iN College Mexican Emerging adults and Resilience Study (Proyecto VENCER) recruited 500 first-year students in an urban Mexican university to participate in a 3-wave study of poly-victimization and academic performance and mental health.

More specifically, Proyecto VENCER will investigate: 

1) the effects of poly-victimization on students’ academic and mental health outcomes concurrently and over time;

2) whether the relations between multiple forms of violence and academic and mental health are mediated or moderated by a range of family-, school-, cultural-, and neighborhood-level factors; and

3) the desensitization hypothesis whereby youth who are chronically exposed to high levels of violence become emotionally numb or “desensitized” to violence over time.

 Waves 1 & 2 have been collected, wave 3 is forthcoming.