SOCIAL BONDING AND DELINQUENCY

A multivariate analysis of social bonding theory of delinquency is presented which includes a comparison by rural-urban location. Findings indicate the bonding scales to be a stronger explanation of delinquency among rural youth, although lack of social bonding is also strongly implicated in delinquency committed by urban youth. Also, attachment to peers is positively associated with delinquency, while the conventionality of peers is inversely related to delinquent behavior. However, a strong racial influence on the connection between delinquency and the social bond was also observed. This racial influence appeared to operate independently of type of community, but a definitive conclusion could not be reached, given the characteristics of the sample and scale scores.     

Adolescent Pathways to Co‐Occurring Problem Behavior: The Effects of Peer Delinquency and Peer Substance Use

Delinquency and substance use are more likely to co‐occur in adolescence compared to earlier and later developmental periods. The present study examined developmental pathways to co‐occurring problem behavior from 6th to 10th grade (N = 2,002), testing how peer delinquency and substance use were linked to transitioning between abstaining, delinquency, substance use, and co‐occurring problem behavior. Developmentally, most youth transition from abstinence to delinquent behavior and then escalate to co‐occurring problem behavior. Once co‐occurring problem behavior onsets, remitting to single‐problem behavior or abstinence is unlikely. The impact of peers on problem behavior is domain‐specific when individuals transition from abstaining to a single‐problem behavior, but is more general with respect to escalation of and desistance from problem behavior.     

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.     

Perception of Substance Use Problems in Asian American Communities by Chinese,Indian, and Vietnamese American Youth

SUMMARY

The study was a cross-sectional survey using a convenience sample of 87 Asian American youth respondents to examine their perceptions of substance use problems in the Asian American community. The authors examined respondents' perceptions of the severity of substance use problems in the Asian American community, perceived characteristics of persons with problems of substance use, perceived etiology of substance use problems, beliefs about treatment, perceived help-seeking preferences and helpful services. The youth demonstrated an increased awareness of the severity of substance use problems in the community, although such awareness was more prominent for drinking problems than drug use problems. Respondents showed a positive attitude toward treatment, although such an attitudinal change was not yet accompanied by a change in their behavioral preferences. Findings suggested a tendency for Asian American youth respondents to utilize personal resources rather than professional help or formal treatment programs in response to substance use problems. In addition, respondents shared similar “myths” of Asian problem drinkers and drug users. Implications for developing culturally relevant interventions for prevention and treatment as well as future research are discussed.     

The influence of strain factors,social control factors,self-control and computer use on adolescent cyber delinquency: Korean National Panel Study

This study examined how cyber delinquency changes over time and we identified how predictors influence these changes. We analyzed Korean Youth Panel data collected by the National Youth Policy Institute over five years for 2844 Korean adolescents living in 7 metropolitan cities and 8 provinces, using hierarchical linear modeling. The results are as follows. Cyber delinquency linearly increased over time. Greater computer use and perceived stress were related to more cyber delinquency, while greater self-control ability and community attachment were associated with less cyber delinquency. More computer use and offline bullying victimization were related to an acceleration of the increase of cyber delinquency over time. While, greater self-control ability was associated with a deceleration of the increase of cyber delinquency as time passed. The strongest predictor was amount of computer use, followed by self-control, and then by offline bullying victimization.     

Influence of Perceptions of Current and Future Community on Residential Aspirations of Rural Youth

Outmigration of youth has concerned rural communities and researchers for several decades. Yet not all communities experience extensive youth outmigration and some youth want to stay in their rural communities as adults. This article examines youth satisfaction with their current community and the importance of characteristics of the community in which they would like to live as an adult for youth preferences to leave or stay in their rural community. The data are for rural ninth‐grade youth in Pennsylvania from the Rural Youth Education Project. The results suggest that perceptions of available jobs and educational opportunities in both current and future community, parental and friend influences, and the quality of the natural environment and outdoor recreation are important in determining residential aspirations. In particular, identifying a clean natural environment and outdoor recreation as important in the adult community increases the likelihood that rural youth have residential aspirations to stay in their rural community. This research adds to our knowledge about factors important in determining youth residential aspirations by identifying attributes of community beyond jobs and educational opportunities that youth find attractive as they consider places to live as adults.     

‘The brainy ones are leaving’: the subtlety of (un)cool places through the eyes of rural youth

The aim of this paper is to study place dynamics in relationships between academically-oriented young people and their local rural places. With point of departure in rural settings with less obvious flagship attractions and cultural assets compared to urban high amenity settings, the paper contributes to the limited literature on the perception of place among academically-oriented youth, who in future potentially belong to the professional category of knowledge workers. Addressing identity, place and the concept of cool in relation to rural youth, we analyse the ?ndings from 23 qualitative, in-depth interviews conducted with 49 young people in secondary education in two rural regions of Denmark to identify place dynamics in the relationships between these young people and their local places. The paper adds to the youth literature by demonstrating how rural youth produce, articulate and maintain identities and visions for desired futures with aspirations for urban lifestyles. Findings show that the interviewed youth's relationships to their local rural place are characterised by con?icting feelings of attachment, detachment, pride and entrapment, and that such feelings reflect on identity construction and seem to play an important role for future migration intentions.     

Race,Substance Abuse,and Mental Health Disorders as Predictors of Juvenile Court Outcomes: Do They Vary By Gender?

Predicting juvenile court outcomes based on youthful offenders’ delinquency risk factors is important for the adolescent social work field as well as the juvenile justice system. Using a random sample of 341 delinquent youth from one Midwestern urban county, this study extends previous research by examining if race, substance abuse, and mental health disorders influence important delinquency outcomes (number of court offenses, felony conviction(s), probation supervision length, detention length, and number of probation services) differently for male and female juvenile offenders. Multivariate analysis findings revealed that race was significant only for males, and having a substance use disorder was a stronger predictor of delinquency outcomes for males; whereas, having a mental health disorder was a stronger predictor of delinquency outcomes for females. Implications for this research include the importance of early disorder identification and subsequent availability of gender-focused treatment.     

Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual,Sexual-Orientation Questioning Adolescents Seeking Mental Health Services

Summary

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and sexual-orientation questioning (LGBQ) adolescents have many of the same health needs as straight adolescents. In addition, they must learn to manage a stigmatized identity that may create confusion, anxiety, and emotional turbulence for them. Beyond stigma, LGBQ youth are often found to be at higher risk for substance abuse, violence, depression, suicide, and sexual health problems. Based on responses given by urban adolescents seeking mental health services to a clinical self-assessment questionnaire (Adquest), this article examines the relationship between sexual identity and risk factors related to safety, health, sex, substance use, family and friends, worries, and their desire to talk about these in counseling. Findings indicate that LGBQ youth are at higher risk than straights, and express greater desire to talk about substance use, health, their personal lives, and their friends. Mental health practitioners working with these young persons must properly assess and address their risks by creating a sense of community and safe environment for open discussion.     

Does Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Extraction Affect How Much Youth in Rural Pennsylvania Like Their Community?

Prior research on the impacts of boomtowns on youth provides mixed results. Recent qualitative work suggests youth are ambivalent about change associated with extraction of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale. The Rural Youth Education longitudinal study of youth in rural Pennsylvania provides a unique opportunity to examine youth views about their communities before and during development of the Marcellus Shale. We use two waves of data from 10 rural school districts to assess differences in youth reports of how much they liked their community pre‐Marcellus (2005) and during Marcellus activity (2009), creating a natural experiment. Youth characteristics, aspirations, perceptions of job and educational opportunities, and views about their community are included in multinomial multivariate logistic regression models to predict how much youth like their community. We find no difference in youth liking their community pre‐Marcellus, but a larger share of youth in communities experiencing Marcellus activity by 2009 like their community “a lot” than those in areas not affected. The Marcellus effect strengthens when controls for other factors typically associated with extraction activity and views of community are included in the model, suggesting other, unmeasured aspects of Marcellus‐related activity influence how much youth like their community.     

Programa shortstop: a culturally focused juvenile intervention for Hispanic youth

Culturally sensitive juvenile delinquency and substance abuse interventions are relatively limited and unavailable to many first-time Hispanic juvenile offenders. The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of a culturally focused juvenile and substance abuse intervention program for first time Hispanic youth offenders. The intent of the program was to decrease juvenile recidivism and increase substance abuse resistance. Programa Shortstop is a family based intervention designed for Hispanic youth ages 9-17. The intervention was delivered to 352 youth and at least one parent/caregiver over the 5-year study period. For intervention youth, the results of the recidivism study (n = 321) indicated that 89% of youth participating in Programa Shortstop between 1995 to 1997 were not rearrested within one year of completing Programa Shortstop. Additionally, statistical paired t-test analysis found that the intervention model had a positive effect on legal knowledge and school related factors associated with substance abuse and delinquency. Parent participants demonstrated significant increases in knowledge related to substance abuse and the legal system.     

Substance Use,the Social Bond,and Delinquency*

This research integrated elements from the drugs‐delinquency field with life course criminology to examine the reciprocal relationship between substance use and delinquency during adolescence. Data from three waves of the National Youth Survey were used to examine research hypotheses. Findings indicate that there were significant direct and indirect effects. There was evidence of stability in both behaviors, prior substance use predicted future substance use and prior delinquency predicted future delinquency. In addition, prior substance use predicted future delinquency and prior delinquency predicted future substance use. This was due, in part, to the significant indirect connections in the relationship between substance use and delinquency. It appears that substance use and delinquency weaken the social bond, which leads to continued substance use and delinquency.     

Rural Community Satisfaction and Attachment in Mass Consumer Society1

Abstract Previous models of community satisfaction and attachment have not included personal economic attitudes and behaviors as independent variables. Their inclusion is theoretically justified when residents of communities are viewed as consumers in a larger social/economic context first and residents of a particular community second. As locally-oriented economic processes—once part of the community experience—were removed to nonlocal markets, local economic and demographic attributes became less important to rural residents' experience of community. In two rural communities with extreme scores on a service center viability index, satisfaction with employment and location of employment are important predictors.     

Race and ethnic differences in depressed mood following the transition from high school

Young adulthood is a period of increased mental health risk, with evidence linking psychological disorder to problematic role transitions. To our knowledge, there has been little or no research that examines the forces shaping minority mental health at this time. Using a diverse, urban sample of young adults who are followed over a two-year period, this paper examines the link between race/ethnicity and depressed mood and the transitional roles and interpersonal experiences that mediate this association. Findings indicate that blacks and Hispanics have elevated depressed mood relative to whites and Asian Americans, independent of socioeconomic background factors. The underrepresentation of blacks and Hispanics in four-year colleges largely explains the differences in depressed mood between members of these groups and Asian American youth. In contrast, comparisons of black and Hispanic youth to white youth highlight problems in peer and parental relations among individuals in the former groups. Overall, findings suggest that the heightened depressed mood among Hispanics and blacks relative to whites and Asian Americans reflects their increasingly disadvantaged pathways into adulthood, characterized by poorer prospects for educational advancement and more problematic relationships subsequent to the high school years.     

The Social Bases of Rural‐Urban Political Divides: Social Status,Work, and Sociocultural Beliefs

The rural‐urban political divide has sparked media and social science concern. Yet national studies of rural and urban voters have largely failed to draw from the distinct conceptual literatures produced by rural sociologists. We take a new look at individuals’ voting choices, building from two rural sociological literatures, research on spatial inequality and on the rural‐urban continuum, to identify the social bases anteceding Republican voting in presidential elections. We analyze three social bases along which rural‐urban populations vary: social structural statuses, work and employment, and sociocultural values and beliefs. We question the degree to which rural‐urban differences can be accounted for by these factors. Data are from approximately 9,000 respondents to the General Social Surveys for election years 2000–2012. Our findings demonstrate that the literatures produced by rural sociologists provide a strong conceptual foundation for explaining rural‐urban voting differences. Rural and urban residents’ differential social statuses account for the greatest variation in their voting choices. Sociocultural values and beliefs, particularly attitudes toward domestic social issues, are also important. Findings add significant insight into the variety of factors that differentiate rural‐urban individuals’ voting choices as well as illuminate the need for greater emphasis on exurban voters.     

Offending,Substance Use,and Cohabitation in Young Adulthood1

Over half of young adults have cohabited, but relatively little is known about the role delinquency and substance use play in youths’ odds of cohabiting as well as the implications of cohabitation for early adult offending and substance use. This study focuses on the reciprocal relationship between cohabitation during late adolescence and young adulthood and self‐reported offending and substance use. Using longitudinal data, we find that net of traditional predictors, delinquency involvement is associated with increased odds of cohabitation and cohabiting at younger ages while substance use is not related to cohabiting during early adulthood. Further analysis indicates that cohabitation is associated with lower reports of substance use. However, cohabitation is not associated with self‐reported offending. The results help unravel the connection between cohabitation experience, offending and substance use, and early adult outcomes.     

Healthcare Use in the Heartland: How Health Care Selection Varies Between Rural,Retirement‐Age Migrants and Long‐Term Residents

One increasingly important problem affecting rural health care selection is the tendency of older residents to bypass local health care providers. This research investigates how the effects of community characteristics and attachment on health care bypass behavior vary between rural retirement‐age migrants and retirement‐age long‐term residents. Non‐health‐related behaviors, such as purchasing goods and services outside one's community during a health care trip, that is, “outshopping,” could influence bypass if individuals combine trips for their medical care with other consumer needs. Basing our work on the outshopping theory, we argue that bypass behavior is one facet of consumer consumption patterns for both rural retirement‐age migrants and long‐term residents. In addition, dissatisfaction with local health care and services like shopping can “push” rural residents to bypass local health care and travel greater distances for primary health care. We further contend that strong community attachment has an opposite “pull” effect that can help to negate the push of outshopping and reduce the likelihood of bypass. Our results reveal retirement‐age migrants are significantly more likely to bypass local primary health care providers than retirement‐age long‐term residents. Furthermore, our analysis bridges the rural health care and retirement community development literature to suggest that outshopping theory can now be applied to rural primary health care bypass behavior.     

Coping With LGBT and Racial–Ethnic‐Related Stressors: A Mixed‐Methods Study of LGBT Youth of Color

This study examines how racial–ethnic minority lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth cope with both racial–ethnic and LGBT‐related stress. Within a sample of 213 LGBT youth of color, the present study presents (1) quantitative and qualitative results from an approach and avoidance–based measure of parental racial coping socialization across six conversation domains, and (2) qualitative responses regarding LGBT stressors and associated coping strategies. The emphasis on approach versus avoidance varied across the racial–ethnic conversation domains. However, both racial–ethnic‐ and LGBT‐related coping strategies emphasized a combination of cognitive and behavioral strategies. Similarities and differences also existed in the types of stressors encountered across racial–ethnic and LGBT statuses. We discuss the potential for coping skill transfer across these minority statuses.