Emerging themes and challenges in understanding youth violence involvement

Identifies emerging key themes in the articles in this special section regarding child and adolescent involvement in violence. Using a developmental-ecological framework and drawing on consistencies across other studies and reviews, this article is intended to summarize the pertinent findings for clinical child psychology. Current knowledge status, needed further research, clinical implications (preventive and treatment), and relevant policy issues are noted.     

Exposure to violence and neighborhood affiliation among inner-city youth.

Examined the prediction of exposure to violence by neighborhood affiliation in a sample of 167 inner-city adolescents (107 girls, 60 boys) age 14 to 19 years. Measures of exposure to violence, emotional and behavioral problems, and demographic information as well as a new neighborhood affiliation measure developed specifically for adolescents were administered. Adolescents reported fairly high rates of exposure to violence, supporting other recent research. Boys reported experiencing and witnessing significantly more violence than girls. In multiple regression analyses, higher neighborhood affiliation predicted greater exposure to violence at a trend level (p = .06), even when age, sex, length of residence in one's neighborhood, and concurrent emotional and behavioral problems were controlled. These findings suggest that greater affiliation or attachment to one's neighborhood may be an important risk factor for inner-city youth that should be investigated in larger samples.     

Predictors of violence exposure among inner-city youth

Examined the ability of demographic variables and risk factors (parental substance use, number of people in the home, out-of-home placements, grades repeated, arrest history, and total life stress) to predict exposure to community violence among 342 high school students from inner-city Baltimore referred for mental health care in community centers or in the schools. Over 90% of the sample knew at least 1 victim of a violent act, 77% reported witnessing a violent act, and 47% reported past victimization by violence. Risk variables were more powerful regression predictors of violence exposure than demographic characteristics such as race, sex, or clinical setting. Even after controlling for demographic differences in violence exposure, risk factors as a group accounted for another 10% to 15% of variance. Life stress was the most consistent predictor of violence exposure for this sample, and life stress was the only variable to make a significant unique contribution to the prediction of all 4 violence criteria.     

The developmental ecology of urban males' youth violence

Data from a longitudinal study of 294 African American and Latino adolescent boys and their caregivers living in poor urban communities were used to test a developmental-ecological model of violence. Six annual waves of data were applied to evaluate the relations between microsystem influences of parenting and peer deviance (peer violence and gang membership), macrosystem influences of community structural characteristics and neighborhood social organization, and individual involvement in violence (level and growth). Structural equation modeling analyses showed that community structural characteristics significantly predicted neighborhood social processes. Parenting practices partially mediated the relation between neighborhood social processes and gang membership. Parenting practices was fully mediated in its relation to peer violence by gang membership. Gang membership was partially mediated by peer violence level in its relation to individual violence level. Although the overall set of relations does not satisfy mediation requirements fully in all instances, the model was validated for the most part, supporting a focus on a multilevel ecological model of influences on risk development.     

Psychosocial correlates of dating violence victimization among Latino youth

To examine the association between physical dating violence victimization and risk and protective factors, an anonymous, cross-sectional, self-reported survey was administered to Latino youth (n=446) residing in suburban Washington, DC. Multivariate logistic regression models were constructed, and adjusted OR and 95% CI were examined. Approximately 9% of Latino adolescents reported physical dating violence victimization. Overall, youth who reported carrying a gun, involvement in physical fights and suicidal thoughts were at greater odds of reporting dating violence. Among females, fighting was the sole risk behavior associated with dating violence. Girls who reported a stronger sense of self were less likely to report dating violence. Among males, gun carrying, but not physical fighting, and having considered suicide were associated with dating violence. Spending time each week with a mentor was also positively associated with male dating violence victimization. Dating violence appeared to cluster with other risk behavior engagement. Important gender differences in associated risk and protective behaviors were identified and should be incorporated into primary and secondary prevention activities.     

Acculturative dissonance, ethnic identity, and youth violence

Studies suggest that the process of acculturation for immigrant youth, particularly for second-generation youth, is significantly associated with delinquency and violence. This study explored the acculturation-violence link with respect to acculturative dissonance and ethnic identity. The results revealed in a sample of 329 Chinese, Cambodian, Mien/Laotian, and Vietnamese youth that acculturative dissonance was significantly predictive of serious violence, with full mediation through peer delinquency. Ethnic identity was not significantly associated with peer delinquency or serious violence. Although acculturative dissonance and ethnic identity accounted for a small percentage of variance in violence compared with peer delinquency, it cannot be discounted as trivial. Structural equation analyses provided support for both measurement and structural invariance across the four ethnic groups, lending support for cross-cultural comparisons. The results also lend support for the inclusion of cultural factors in youth violence prevention and intervention efforts.     

A developmental-contextual perspective on youth covictimization by community violence

Witnessing violence within the community-covictimization-has been recognized as a threat to the optimal development of youth. Following a discussion of methodological issues that plague covictimization research, the literature on covictimization is reviewed, beginning with findings on its prevalence. Correlates of covictimization are then examined within the Shakoor and Chalmers framework, comprising emotional, cognitive, and behavioral domains. Recent lines of research investigating interactions among these three domains are also explored. Further, a developmental-contextual approach toward studying covictimization is outlined and, from this perspective, the relationship of covictimization to social cognition, health-related behaviors, parenting, and social support is discussed. Finally, recommendations for further research are presented.     

Parental involvement in competitive youth sport settings

ObjectivesBased on ecological systems theory [Bronfenbrenner, U. (2005). Making human beings human: Bioecological perspectives on human development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage], the purpose of this study was to examine parents’ involvement in competitive youth sport settings.DesignData were collected through two distinct phases of fieldwork. Phase 1 involved longitudinal data collection with four families. Phase 2 involved observations of youth soccer settings.MethodData were collected from four families via individual interviews and audio-diaries and were supplemented through 120 h of observation. Data were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using grounded theory methodology.ResultsParents’ verbal reactions to their children's sport performance behaviors were placed on a continuum moving from more supportive to more controlling comments. These comments were categorized as praise/encouragement, performance contingent feedback, instruction, striking a balance, negative comments, and derogatory comments. Parents experienced empathy in that they perceived sharing the emotions their children felt in sport, and these emotions appeared to change in relation to dynamic game and contextual circumstances. Parents also thought that they possessed knowledge and expertise of sport, which they perceived enabled them to make comments to their children.ConclusionA series of reciprocal and bi-directional relationships were central to parents’ involvement in competitive youth sport.     

The relationship between violence and youth suicide indicators among Asian American and Pacific Islander youth

The literature documents a relationship between interpersonal violence and suicide. One tool used to understand interpersonal violence is the Power Wheel, developed from clinical experience and originally used in domestic violence education. We examine the relationship between Teen Power and Control Wheel domains and suicidal indicators (seriously considered suicide, made a suicide plan, and attempted suicide) among Asian American and Pacific Islander high school students, in terms of both victimization and perpetration. Data from a 2007 survey of two multi-ethnic high schools on the island of O'ahu, Hawai'i were used. The survey assessed interpersonal youth violence and a multitude of risk and protective factors. It found that females were significantly more likely to seriously consider suicide and attempt suicide, compared to males. There were no statistically significant differences in seriously considering suicide, making a suicide plan, and attempting suicide by ethnic group, employment status, or hours worked per week. Using the Wheel, we found that all dimensions for victimization and perpetration were associated with the three suicidal indicators. However, the magnitude of this association was dramatically higher for victims than for perpetrators. School- and healthcare-based prevention strategies should ensure that both suicide and violence intervention components are addressed. Professionals who work with youth should be trained to feel comfortable, confident, and competent in discussing suicide and violence, and be willing and capable to assess and intervene.     

Optimistic bias among potential perpetrators and victims of youth violence

This study furthers the current understanding of optimistic bias regarding youth violence among high school students. Results from a survey of 387 urban high school students indicate a wide range of predictors of optimistic bias, including experience, demographics, and attitudes. Linkages to other developmental frameworks (personal fable and self-efficacy) suggest future directions for additional research.     

Cognitive-cultural model of identity and violence prevention for African American youth

The author introduces a cognitive-cultural model of identity development to explain the elevated risk for violence among African American youth. The model is an extension of previous conceptual frameworks that address the dynamic interplay among cognition, culture, and self-systems. Specifically, the self is conceptualized as a cognitive structure known as schemata that contain individual and cultural elements corresponding to those aspects of identity. The model has three major components: the individual self, the cultural self, and social roles. The cognitive-cultural model posits that maladaptative behaviors such as violence are a consequence of underdevelopment or imbalance in some aspect of the self or the adoption of social roles that undermine integration of the individual self-schemata and cultural self-schemata. The implications of this cognitive-cultural model for prevention efforts, particularly Afrocentric socialization interventions targeting African American youth, are discussed.     

Race, youth violence, and the changing jurisprudence of waiver

This article analyzes the legal history and jurisprudential theory of legislative offense-exclusion and prosecutorial waiver laws over the past quarter-century. Initially concerns about racial discrimination and civil rights motivated the Supreme Court in Kent v. United States to require due process in judicial waiver hearings. Offense-exclusion and "direct file" laws evolved and expanded in direct reaction to Kent as lawmakers sought simple and expedient alternatives to judicial waiver hearings. The "just deserts" sentencing movement of the 1970s, which advocated determinate and presumptive offense-based sentences, provided a conceptual alternative to judicial discretion and a jurisprudential rationale for offense exclusion laws. Research on delinquent and criminal careers in the 1970s, which initially promised empirically grounded selective incapacitation sentencing strategies, provided another conceptual foundation for offense-based waiver laws that focused on youths' prior records. Finally, offense exclusion provided a politically attractive strategy for "get tough" public officials who proposed to "crack down" on "baby boom" increases in youth crime. The jurisprudential shift in sentencing emphases from considerations of the offender to characteristics of the offense relocated waiver and sentencing discretion from judges to prosecutors. By the early 1990s, as a result of political "crack-downs" on youth crime, the scope of excluded offense legislation increased substantially, became overly inclusive and excessively rigid, and exhibited many of the negative features associated with mandatory sentencing laws.     

The development of aggression and its linkages with violence and youth delinquency

Over the past decade studies of the development of violent juvenile delinquency have gained momentum. Large prospective longitudinal studies on different continents have shown the potential for a developmental approach to clarify the developmental course, determinants and malleability of violent delinquent behaviour by juveniles.

However, notwithstanding these accomplishments, one may wonder to what extent the potential benefits of a truly developmental approach have been brought to fruition to date. Based on a critical review of the literature, three major issues are identified: (1) prospective research has been highly explorative rather than hypothesis testing; (2) development has been described in terms of mean changes with age or static patterns rather than in terms of individual trajectories; and (3) there has been a strong focus on correlates and risk-factors instead of on causal mechanisms driving development. Suggestions are made to resolve these issues by formulating clear developmental theories to be tested with longitudinal experimental studies of individual developmental trajectories, their malleability, and mediators of change.     

Adolescent decisional autonomy regarding participation in an emergency department youth violence interview

Much attention has been given to determining whether an adolescent patient has the capacity to consent to research. This study explores the factors that influence adolescents' decisions to participate in a research study about youth violence and to determine positive or negative feelings elicited by being a research subject. The majority of subjects perceived their decision to participate to be free of coercion, and few felt badly about having participated. However, adolescents who were alone in the room during the assent process were more likely to report that they chose freely to be a research subject. This study may influence the ways physicians communicate with adolescent patients around research assent within a clinical care environment.     

First time gun carrying and the primary prevention of youth gun violence for African American youth living in extreme poverty

First time gun carrying is specified as a logical starting point for the primary prevention of youth gun violence, which is also consistent with the public health approach to the prevention of firearm injuries for at risk African American youth. However, it is difficult to disentangle youth gun violence from other aspects of violence that are concentrated in high poverty settings. Insights from developmental life-course criminology (DLC) are used to: (1) categorize first time gun carrying as a critical inflection point in the development of youth violence; and (2) categorize exposure to violence in the community as a developmental pathway for first time gun carrying for youth attempting to prevent and/or deter future violent victimization. The ecological-transactional model of community violence provides a more nuanced breakdown of the impact of exposure to violence in the community on first time gun carrying given the embeddedness of contexts that shape child and adolescent development in high poverty settings. Finally, several areas for future research are outlined that include a need to better integrate gun carrying into existing theories as well as future longitudinal studies of high risk African American youth.     

Student perceptions of school efforts to facilitate student involvement, school commitment, self-determination, and high school graduation

This study examined the relationship between student perceptions of school efforts to facilitate student involvement, school commitment, self-determination skills, and ontrack indicators for graduation in 10th grade and actual graduation outcomes two years later. The participants were 154 primarily minority students in a large, urban school district. Student perceptions of higher levels of school efforts to facilitate student involvement was related to an increased likelihood that students had passed a state high stakes assessment and were on-track for graduation at the end of 10th grade and an increased likelihood of actual graduation. Implications for facilitating student involvement in educational planning are discussed.