Behavioral health correlates of exposure to community violence among African-American adolescents in Chicago

AimsThough public health researchers are more aware of behavioral health concerns among African American youth, few studies have explored how exposure to community violence may be related to adverse youth concerns. This study examines the relationship between exposure to community violence and mental health problems, substance use, school engagement, juvenile justice involvement, and STI risk behaviors.MethodsA total of 638 African American adolescents living in predominantly low-income, urban communities participated in the study by completing self-report measures on exposure to community violence, mental health, school engagement proxies, substance use, delinquency markers and sexual risk behaviors.ResultsAdolescents who reported higher rates of exposure to community violence were significantly more likely to report poorer mental health, delinquent behaviors, a history of juvenile justice involvement, lower school bonding and student-teacher connectedness. These youth were also significantly more likely to use alcohol, cigarettes, and illicit substances, and engage in sexual risk behaviors.ConclusionsFindings suggest that there is a critical need for culturally relevant prevention and intervention efforts for African American adolescents who are frequently exposed to community violence.     

Can Organized Youth Activities Protect Against Internalizing Problems Among Adolescents Living in Violent Homes?

Using longitudinal data from a subsample of Hispanic, African American, and White youth enrolled in the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (N = 1,419), we examined the effects of both parental involvement in domestic violence and youth participation in organized out‐of‐school‐time activities on internalizing symptoms during adolescence. We also examined the extent to which participation in organized activities protected youth against the internalizing consequences of domestic violence. We found that intensive participation in either afterschool programs or extracurricular activities was inversely associated with youth internalizing problems. Moreover, we found that intensive participation in afterschool programs weakened the association between parents' domestic violence and youths' internalizing problems.     

Classifying At‐Risk High School Youth: The Influence of Exposure to Community Violence and Protective Factors on Academic and Health Outcomes

Using cluster analysis, 789 predominately Latino and African American high school youth were classified into varying academic at‐risk profiles using self‐reported levels of academic confidence, motivation to attend school, perceived family support, connections with teachers and peers, and exposure to violence. Six clusters emerged, 5 of which were identified as “at‐risk.” The clusters were examined in relation to academic stress, health status, grades, and school retention. Exposure to violence was one distinguishing feature of youth identified as most vulnerable, vulnerable, and resilient; however, youth identified as resilient recorded better academic outcomes.     

Future orientation and health related factors among African American adolescents

African American youth are frequently confronted by economic and structural hardships, which can often suggest that their lives do not matter. This study examined the extent to which having high future orientation was related to a broad spectrum of health related factors. Among a sample of 638 largely low-income African American youth, this study assessed measures of demographics, future orientation, delinquency, sexual risk behaviors, and school engagement constructs. Major findings indicated that higher future orientation was related to lower levels of delinquency and a reduced likelihood of engaging in risky sex. In addition, stronger future orientation was related to higher levels of school bonding and student-teacher relationships. Overall, findings point to an overall protective relationship between future orientation and several health related factors among African American youth; this suggests that promoting a sense of future orientation among this population could be related to advancing more healthy youth development.     

What does self-esteem have to do with behavioral health among low-income youth in Chicago?

Many studies have examined risk factors associated with poorer behavioral health among low-income African American youth, such as low school engagement, delinquency, mental health problems, drug use, and risky sex. However, fewer studies have examined protective factors for such behavioral health risk behaviors. This study sought to address this gap by examining whether high levels of self-esteem were associated with better behavioral health factors for this population. A survey was administered to a sample of 638 low-income African American adolescents in Chicago to examine the degree to which high self-esteem was associated with less delinquency, substance use, and sexual risk behaviors, and more school engagement, and whether such associations varied by gender. Stepwise linear and logistic regression models were estimated to assess the influence of self-esteem. Higher self-esteem for this sample of low-income African American adolescents was associated with lower rates of delinquency, drug use, and risky sexual behaviors and increased rates of school engagement. Gender moderated only a few of these relationships. These findings suggest that programs that promote high self–esteem alone or in combination with other resilience factors may promote better behavioral health factors for African American adolescents.     

Step-Up: Promoting Youth Mental Health and Development in Inner-City High Schools

African American and Latino youth who reside in inner-city communities are at heightened risk for compromised mental health, as their neighborhoods are too often associated with serious stressors, including elevated rates of poverty, substance abuse, community violence, as well as scarce youth-supportive resources, and mental health care options. Many aspects of disadvantaged urban contexts have the potential to thwart successful youth development. Adolescents with elevated mental health needs may experience impaired judgment, poor problem-solving skills, and conflictual interpersonal relationships, resulting in unsafe sexual behavior and drug use. However, mental health services are frequently avoided by urban adolescents who could gain substantial benefit from care. Thus, the development of culturally sensitive, contextually relevant and effective services for urban, low-income African American and Latino adolescents is critical. Given the complexity of the mental health and social needs of urban youth, novel approaches to service delivery may need to consider individual (i.e., motivation to succeed in the future), family (i.e., adult support within and outside of the family), and community-level (i.e., work and school opportunities) clinical components. Step-Up, a high school-based mental health service delivery model has been developed to bolster key family, youth and school processes related to youth mental health and positive youth development. Step-Up (1) intervenes with urban minority adolescents across inner-city ecological domains; (2) addresses multiple levels (school, family and community) in order to target youth mental health difficulties; and (3) provides opportunities for increasing youth social problem-solving and life skills. Further, Step-Up integrates existing theory-driven, evidence-based interventions. This article describes Step-Up clinical goals, theoretical influences, as well as components and key features, and presents preliminary data on youth engagement for two cohorts of students.     

The role of social support in the psychological well-being of African American girls who experience dating violence victimization

The goals of this study were to test the relationship between dating violence victimization (i.e., verbal, emotional, and physical abuse) and psychological well-being (i.e., depressive symptomatology, self-esteem, and body image) among 522 African American girls, and to determine whether social support acted as a buffer of negative effects (moderator) or as an intervening factor (mediator) in the relationship between dating violence victimization and psychological well-being. Results from structural equation modeling indicated that dating violence victimization was associated with negative psychological outcomes. Although social support did not moderate this relationship, it served as a mediator of the relationship between dating violence victimization and psychological well-being. Dating violence programs for African American girls should consider how to incorporate family, church, and other networks in the community to foster support, and allow adolescent girls to discuss their abusive experiences in a nonblaming environment. If programs are able to buoy girls who experience dating violence, then they may be able to ameliorate the associated negative psychological sequelae.     

Mechanisms of Family Impact on African American Adolescents' HIV‐Related Behavior

A longitudinal model that tested mediating pathways between protective family processes and HIV‐related behavior was evaluated with 195 African American youth. Three waves of data were collected when the youth were 13, 15, and 19 years old. Evidence of mediation and temporal priority were assessed for 3 constructs: academic engagement, evaluations of prototypical risk‐taking peers, and affiliations with risk‐promoting peers. Structural equation modeling indicated that protective family processes assessed during early adolescence were associated with HIV‐related behavior during emerging adulthood and that academic engagement, evaluations of prototypical risk‐taking peers, and affiliations with risk‐promoting peers accounted for this association. Evidence of a specific pathway emerged: protective family processes→academic engagement→negative evaluations of prototypical risk‐taking peers→affiliations with risk‐promoting peers→HIV‐related behavior. Academic engagement also was a direct predictor of HIV‐related risk behavior.     

The contribution of social support to children and adolescents' self-perception: The mediating role of bullying victimization

The purpose of this article is to report on a study that explores the linkages among self-perception, perceptions of social support, and bullying involvement among children and youth, with a focus on how bullying victimization mediates the association of social support and self-perception. We employ Harter's multidimensional model of self-esteem (1999; 2012), which highlights the inextricable link of social support to global self-esteem but does not explore the contribution of bullying involvement to this association. Our findings indicate that social support is associated with self-perception, and that traditional victimization mediates the association between social support and self-perception for three self-perception measures: social acceptance, physical appearance, and global self-worth. Contrary to our expectations, cyberbullying victimization was not found to mediate the relationship between social support and self-perception. These findings underscore the importance of exploring both traditional bullying victimization and cyberbullying victimization in relation to social support in order to understand their effect on development and wellbeing. More broadly, this study's finding that social support was a significant buffer to bullying victimization emphasizes the necessity of developing prevention and intervention strategies which are relationship-based and implemented early in young people's lives.     

Transactional Process of African American Adolescents’ Family Conflict and Violent Behavior

This is the first longitudinal study of urban African American adolescents that has examined bidirectional effects between their family conflict and violent behavior across all of high school. Structured interviews were administered to 681 students each year in high school at ages 15, 16, 17, and 18 years. We used structural equation modeling to test a transactional model and found bidirectional effects between family conflict and violent behavior across the middle years of high school, while accounting for sex and socioeconomic status. Findings suggest a reciprocal process involving interpersonal conflict in African American families and adolescent engagement in youth violence.     

Parenting as a moderator of minority, adolescent victimization and violent behavior in high-risk neighborhoods

Adolescent male youth in high-crime neighborhoods are at the greatest risk for personal victimization and violent behavior. The temporal relationship between victimization and violent behavior for minority youth in high-crime neighborhoods was examined to determine whether victimization is a risk factor for or by-product of violent behavior. Whether parenting and other control factors moderated the relationship between victimization and violent behavior was also examined. Interviews with 349 urban Hispanic and African American youth revealed that victimization was strongly associated with violent behavior and violent behavior was found to precede direct victimization. Race was found to moderate the relationship between parental attachment and violent behavior. African American youth with the highest levels of parental attachment also had the highest levels of violent behavior, while higher parental attachment for Latino youth was associated with lower violent behavior.     

Comprehensive assessment of youth violence in five Caribbean countries: Gender and age differences

Differences in gender and age have been established in the context of crime, violence, and prevalence of risk and protective factors. These studies are often notable only in the Western Hemisphere. Despite growth in crime and violence in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), relatively little understanding of violence in CARICOM member states exists. In light of these concerns, the major purposes of this study include: (1) comprehensively assessing the scope of the four behaviors (i.e., engagement, victimization, witness, and report) in relation to violence and youth’s perceptions of risk and protective factors in family and school domains, and (2) examining how they differ by youth’s gender and age. This study draws on assessment data on youth violence in five CARICOM Member States: Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago using a completed 51-item quantitative questionnaire from approximately 512 students. The results suggest that violence engagement, victimization, witness, and report significantly differed by gender and age. Male students were more likely to engage in violence, but less likely to report such violence to adults. Similarly, older students reported that they were more likely to engage in and witness violence. For risk and protective factors, female students reported significantly higher scores on domestic violence, whereas male students had higher scores on the access to drugs/weapons. Older students also tended to report higher levels of some school risk factors and lower levels of some protective factors in both family and school.     

An Ecological Approach to Examining Cumulative Violence Exposure Among Urban,African American Adolescents

Using an ecological approach, this study examined experiences with community, family, and partner violence within a sample of 280 urban, African American high school students. The prevalence of each type of violence by gender, associations between severe violence exposure, and the rate of exposure to multiple types of violence were examined. Findings include high rates of exposure to each type of violence, with significant gender differences on several indicators of community violence and intimate partner violence victimization; among the female students, associations between each type of severe violence exposure; and a very high rate of exposure to two or more types of violence. Implications for social work practice are discussed.     

Perceptions of Academic Achievement and Educational Opportunities Among Black and African American Youth

Research focusing on disparities in academic achievement among Black, African American, and other youth has largely examined differences in quantitative risk and protective factors associated with levels of achievement. Few interpretive studies of academic achievement by race or ethnicity have considered how the context of young people’s lives impact their perceptions of academic performance. Furthermore, the lived experiences of Black and African American youth have rarely been considered. This study examined perceptions of academic achievement among a sample of Black and African American elementary and middle school students living in four public housing neighborhoods in a Western US city. Twenty-five Black and African American youth participated in the study. Fourteen youth were in grades 4 and 5, and 11 youth were in grades 6, 7, or 8. Sixty-four percent of participants (n?=?16) were male and 36% (n?=?9) were female. Four themes emerged regarding participants’ perceptions of academic achievement: (1) (in)equity and the internalization of messages; (2) teachers as gatekeepers; (3) family and community factors promoting and inhibiting academic success; and (4) cultural considerations—language, stereotypes, and difference. Implications for improving academic outcomes and reducing the achievement gap among Black, African American, and other students are noted.     

Stopping the Hate: Applying Insights on Bullying Victimization to Understand and Reduce the Emergence of Hate in Schools*

Scholars and educators study how the school climate influences aggressive behaviors like bullying. Far less research examines the relationship between school climate and hateful actions. This study addresses that gap by examining students’ perceptions and observations of the school climate with a nationally representative sample of U.S. middle and high school students. These data include reports of hateful verbal victimization and observations of hateful words and symbols. While some speculate that bullying and hate are separate phenomena, results indicate that school climates which reduce bullying victimization also reduce this study's measures of hate. One difference is that the presence of security guards or police has no effect on bullying victimization while it is associated with increased reports of hateful incidents. The results are interpreted in light of current efforts to reduce school violence and concerns over the role of harsh punishment and law enforcement in school. While one cannot conclude that bullying and hate are empirically distinct from these findings, they point to strategies to combine formal social control and efforts to improve school climate through forming positive social bonds between students and authority figures. This can keep students safe from both violence and hate.     

Parent Involvement as Parental Monitoring of Student Motivation and Parent Expectations Predicting Later Achievement Among African American and European American Middle School Age Students

SUMMARY

Parent involvement and parent expectations are fundamental to academic success. However, much of the research has been with elementary school aged children; consequently, we know less about the influence of parent involvement and parent expectations on the academic achievement of middle school students, and we have even less information for African American (AA) students. Do parent involvement and parent expectations have a similar effect on later Grade Point Average (GPA) for European American (EA) and AA middle school youth? Data from 567 AA and EA urban youth who participated in a longitudinal study were used in this analysis. Within group hierarchical regression analyses reveal parent involvement and parent expectations are statistically significant for both groups. However, partial correlations indicate parental involvement represents the highest unique contribution to later grade point average for EA students, and for AA students, earlier educational achievement represents the highest unique contribution to later grade point average. Implications for practice suggest that approaches to increase parent involvement may work well with improving academic achievement of EA youth, while approaches to increase early educational achievement may work well with AA students.     

Attitudes affecting physical dating violence perpetration and victimization: findings from adolescents in a high-risk urban community

This study examines the associations between attitudes supporting physical dating violence against boys hitting girls and girls hitting boys and experiences with physical dating violence perpetration and victimization among youth in a high-risk community. Cross-sectional logistic regression analyses are based on data from the Youth Violence Survey, conducted in 2004, and administered to more than 80% of public school students in grades 7, 9, 11, and 12 (N = 4,131) in an urban school district. Findings show that attitudes supporting physical dating violence against boys and girls are significantly associated with physical dating violence perpetration and victimization. Prevention programs that seek to reduce physical dating violence among adolescents may benefit from including sex-specific attitude modification as part of a comprehensive violence prevention approach.     

Family Instability and Exposure to Violence in the Early Life Course

Family instability has been linked with a host of outcomes across the early life course. This study extends this literature by connecting instability with violence in the community by examining the associations among family structure, family structure change, and secondary exposure to violence during adolescence across diverse segments of the population. Using longitudinal data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods study, we found that living with a single parent and experiencing family structure changes were associated with secondary exposure to violence. Multiple group models suggest that partner change translated into more exposure for boys than girls. Findings also suggest that family instability may lead to more secondary exposure to violence for African American youth.     

Academic achievement of Vietnamese American adolescents: A community perspective

This article investigates influences on academic achievement among Vietnamese American high school students. Theorists have offered a variety of explanations for Asian American academic success, and characteristics of individual families have received particular attention in many of these explanations. Here, it is argued that the academic success of Vietnamese American students may be understood as the product of “social capital,” or tightly integrated sets of associations, within Vietnamese American communities. If this is the case, it is further argued, high levels of scholastic performance among Vietnamese American youth should be proportionate to their involvement with an ethnic community. The article uses data from a specific Vietnamese American community to find whether community involvement by adolescents and their families is in fact associated with academic achievement. Participation in an ethnic church, proportion of friends who are Vietnamese, and attendance at after‐school Vietnamese classes are used as indicators of adolescents’ community involvement. Membership in ethnic community organizations is used as an indicator of parental community involvement. Findings support the contention that the involvement of Vietnamese American adolescents and of their parents in the ethnic community are strong predictors of academic achievement and that the structure of individual families promotes scholastic performance primarily by promoting community involvement.     

Relations between youths' community violence exposure and their physical aggression: The protective role of adults

The purpose of this study was to examine whether adults moderated the relations between youths' community violence exposure and subsequent physical aggression. Participants were 2575 middle school students (M_age = 12.3, SD = 1.00; 52% female) in the southeastern U.S. who completed surveys collected in the fall, winter, spring, and summer. The sample was predominantly African American (72%). High adult support was associated with weaker relations between exposure to violence in the fall and aggression in the winter among male adolescents. High adult support was related to weaker relations between victimization in the fall and aggression in the winter among female adolescents. Strategies promoting supportive adult relationships may benefit male adolescents by buffering the adverse impact of community violence exposure.