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.     

Facial affect recognition deficits: A potential contributor to aggression in psychotic illness

The current literature suggests a relationship between psychosis and the likelihood of engaging in aggressive behavior, though the factors involved are unclear. In this paper we use a social information processing framework to consider mediators of aggressive behavior in psychosis, especially facial affect recognition (FAR) deficits. The theoretical underpinnings of aggressive behavior are explored using the General Aggression Model (GAM) and FAR deficits are posited as a possible contributor to increased aggression in psychosis. Current research investigating the relationship between FAR, psychosis, and aggression is critically examined, and the role of potential confounding variables including positive symptoms, psychopathic personality traits, childhood trauma, and substance use briefly explored. In conclusion, we argue that socioemotional processing deficits, such as impaired FAR, are a fruitful area for research aimed at understanding, and hence reducing the risk of violence in psychosis.     

Training service providers working with traumatized children in South Africa: The navigations of a trainer

In South Africa, counselling training poses two related difficulties: working in a situation of ubiquitous, ongoing violence, and offering training to people who have minimal or no qualifications and are often overwhelmed by enormous workload. In this context, there is a temptation either to give up hope in the face of the enormity of the task, or defensively to package counselling as a set of techniques which can be taught without much self-reflection. In this article we discuss, by contrast, an intervention which used psychodynamic principles to develop learner-centred training drawing on trainees' own experiences. We consider the benefits of this approach even in a context of violence and meagre resources.     

Recensement des actions évaluées à destination des enfants exposés à la violence conjugale

Knowledge relating to actions for children exposed to marital violence appears still limited, whereas in France many efforts are deployed to develop them. This field of intervention is recent and the actors of child welfare and those of the associative sector wishing to set up specific actions to help the child, often encounter a lack of knowledge about this type of intervention. This article proposes to make known actions carried out in this context over Atlantic by the analysis of six programs and the results of their evaluation.     

Personality,the Dark Triad and violence

Aggression involves using force to dominate a situation, whereas violence uses force to do intentional harm. Previous research suggests the Dark Triad underlies much anti-social behaviour, and is associated with aggression. We extend this work to examine whether Dark Triad constructs predict self-reported violence. The Dark Triad, measured using the SD3, was examined in relation to normal personality traits as indexed by the HEXACO, which comprises a general Big Five structure with the addition of an Honest–Humility dimension. We also measured impulsivity using the I-7. A sample of 159 adults completed the measures. Principal Components Analysis revealed Machiavellianism, psychopathy and violence loaded on the same factor, which also had negative loadings for HEXACO domains of Honesty–Humility and Agreeableness. Narcissism loaded on a separate factor which was also defined by Extraversion. Hierarchical regression analyses found Agreeableness a more powerful predictor of violence than psychopathy or Machiavellianism, both of which showed a trend to this association; narcissism had no effect. Agreeableness emerged as the strongest negative predictor of violence, and exclusively explained the majority of variance in violence scores. Findings are discussed regarding the centrality of low agreeableness as a driving force behind the Dark Triad and the constructs it predicts.     

Couples with Intimate Partner Violence Seeking Relationship Help: Associations and Implications for Self‐Help and Online Interventions

In‐person conjoint treatments for relationship distress are effective at increasing relationship satisfaction, and newly developed online programs are showing promising results. However, couples reporting even low levels intimate partner violence (IPV) are traditionally excluded from these interventions. To improve the availability of couple‐based treatment for couples with IPV, the present study sought to determine whether associations with IPV found in community samples generalized to couples seeking help for their relationship and whether web‐based interventions for relationship distressed worked equally well for couples with IPV. In the first aim, in a sample of 2,797 individuals who were seeking online help for their relationship, the levels and correlates of both low‐intensity and clinically significant IPV largely matched what is found in community samples. In the second aim, in a sample of 300 couples who were randomly assigned to a web‐based intervention or a waitlist control group, low‐impact IPV did not moderate the effects of the intervention for relationship distress. Therefore, web‐based interventions may be an effective (and easily accessible) intervention for relationship distress for couples with low‐intensity IPV.     

Poetic Justice: Engaging in Participatory Narrative Analysis to Find Solace in the “Killer Corridor”

The author engaged with adolescents at a community‐based youth organization as “co‐researchers” to delve deeper into the lived experiences of youth of color residing in an urban neighborhood undergoing change. Participatory narrative analysis was used to empower participants to produce texts to make sense of their lives and their home, school, and neighborhood contexts. The process of engaging youth as co‐researchers and experts in issues pertaining to their own neighborhood is discussed. Nuanced analyses of poems‐as‐data is shown to be critical in informing the recent surge of interdisciplinary, community‐engaged, place‐based initiatives focused on neighborhood revitalization, violence prevention, and positive youth development.     

Physical Abuse Victimization and Violence in the Transition to Adulthood: The Mediating Role of Alcohol and Drug Use

In the present paper we examine the association between physical abuse victimization in childhood and violent criminal behavior in the transition from adolescence to adulthood (TAA). Of central interest is whether that association is indirect, through the impact of abuse victimization on alcohol and drug use. We employ a statistical test for indirect effects, using a design that also applies Savage and Wozniak’s (2016) “differential etiology of violence” standard. The data suggest that the effect of physical abuse on violence in the TAA is partially indirect, mediated by alcohol and drug use. A control for nonviolent offending is applied to build confidence that the dynamic between abuse victimization and substance use is a differential predictor of violence.     

Community violence exposure,coping, and problematic alcohol and drug use among urban,female caregivers: A prospective study

Victimization is associated with substance use in women, but less is known about linkages between witnessing community violence and substance use, even though more women witness versus directly experience violence. Further, factors that contribute to or protect against women’s problematic substance use are less well understood. Urban female caregivers (N = 318; >92% African American/black) living in low-income communities were interviewed annually for three waves regarding exposure to community violence, coping behaviors, substance use, and protective factors. Path analyses revealed that lifetime witnessing of violence, but not victimization, assessed at baseline, was associated with changes in avoidant coping, but not active coping, one year later; avoidant coping, in turn, was related to changes in and higher levels of problematic drug use the following year. Victimization was directly related to problematic drug use, but not to alcohol use. Regression analyses indicated that high levels of religious commitment and social support at baseline were prospectively associated with lower levels of avoidant coping. Because caregivers are important role models for their children, it is important to attend to the factors that contribute to their substance use and abuse.     

Fresh Start: A Multilevel Community Mobilization Plan to Promote Youth Development and Prevent Violence

While much has been written about community mobilization for health, few detailed expositions of the formation of community mobilization, especially focused on youth violence prevention exist. The Columbia Center for Youth Violence Prevention, in collaboration with the UNIDOS Inwood Coalition, developed a Community mobilization plan to guide youth violence prevention in Inwood. The plan was developed within the context of an evidence-based organizing framework-Communities that Care (CTC) and takes a multi-level approach to service coordination that includes activities at the Individual, Family, Block, Organizational and Built Environment levels. This article describes how the Community mobilization plan was created, illustrates the use of evidence-based practices to lead to the development of the plan, outlines the plan's community/organizational activities, and summarizes the principles and processes that can be replicated in other communities seeking to start their own community mobilization efforts to reduce youth violence.