Examining the developmental process of risk for exposure to community violence among urban youth

Exposure to community violence and depressive symptoms: Examining community, family, and peer effects among public housing youth

Exposure to community violence is an epidemic problem that causes debilitating effects on youth mental health. However, the relationships between violence exposure and youth mental health remain unclear when examining co-occurring socioecological risk and protective factors. The purpose of this study is to clarify the observed gaps in knowledge by utilizing structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the mediating role of community violence exposure on the relationship between perceived neighborhood risk factors, parental behaviors, and peers on depressive symptoms in a sample of urban youth in low-income public housing communities (n = 320). Results indicate that community violence exposure and exposure to delinquent peers mediates the effects of perceived neighborhood risk and parenting behaviors on depressive symptoms. These findings suggest that while interventions that limit exposure to community violence and delinquent peers could reduce depressive symptoms, interventions that reduce community violence are essential to improve youth mental health.

Community Violence Exposure and Externalizing Problem Behavior Among Chinese High School Students: The Moderating Role of Parental Knowledge

Adolescents' community violence exposure (CVE) has been demonstrated with a range of behavioral and psychological problems, but the processes that explain these correlations are not clear. In our 2017 study, the mediating role of deviant peer affiliation in the relationship between CVE and externalizing problem behaviors has been confirmed. However, the moderating effect of parental factors is still unclear. Therefore, a new group (high school group) was adopted in this study to further explore the moderating effect of parental knowledge based on also confirming the mediating effect of deviant peer affiliation. Stratified-cluster sampling was used to recruit 1,797 volunteers who completed questionnaires on CVE, deviant peer affiliation, parental knowledge, and externalizing problem behaviors. The results of the structural equation modeling were: on the basis of our previous research, we further analyzed the mediating role of deviant peer affiliation, and the mediated association was moderated by parental knowledge. Especially when the school climate is added as a covariate, the moderating effect of parental knowledge has changed, that is, the positive association between CVE and externalizing problem behaviors was much stronger for adolescents who reported lower levels of parental knowledge than for those who reported higher levels of parental knowledge. The results support the assumptions of social learning theory and have implications for interventions of community violence.

Understanding Youth Perceptions of Neighborhood Disorder: The Role of Conduct Problems

While research addresses neighborhood disorder as leading to conduct problems, the role of individual-level differences in shaping adolescent perceptions of neighborhood has been overlooked. Data on youth, over-selected for childhood conduct problems (N = 744, 58% childhood conduct problems, 47% girls), were used to examine the link between conduct problems (time 1: Mean age = 12.23) and perceived neighborhood disorder (time 3: M = 14.30). The mediating role of delinquent friends, peer victimization, depressive symptoms, and observer-rated neighborhood disorder (time 2: M = 13.23) were also tested. Conduct problems were associated with higher levels of perceived neighborhood disorder, via delinquent peers and peer victimization. These findings offer new insight into the consequences of perceived neighborhood disorder for health and wellbeing.

Mitigating Negative Consequences Of Community Violence Exposure: Perspectives From African American Youth

The burden of community violence on young African Americans includes disproportionate rates of physical and mental health consequences. To develop appropriate and sustainable interventions that mitigate the negative consequences after violence exposure, it is critical to incorporate the lived experiences and perspectives of African American youth. We conducted five focus groups that collectively included thirty-nine African American youth living in income-disadvantaged urban neighborhoods in Kansas City, Missouri, to examine their experiences and perceptions of community violence and identify priorities to reduce the negative consequences of community violence. Youth-identified priorities included increasing proactive responses from multiple community sectors; reducing racial discrimination; and creating safe environments, including access to mental health care and other supportive services. Incorporating these findings into current policy and cross-sector initiatives offers a promising opportunity to improve the health and well-being of African American youth exposed to community violence.

Exposure to Violence and Posttraumatic Stress Among Youth in Public Housing: Do Community, Family, and Peers Matter?

This study examines the mediating roles of neighborhood risk factors, parental behaviors, and peers on the relationship between community violence exposure and posttraumatic stress in a sample of urban youth in low-income public housing communities. Data are from 320 African-American youth living in public housing in a northeastern city in the USA. Structural equation modeling was utilized to examine the stated relationships. Study results point to significant effects of violence exposure on posttraumatic stress in urban youth. While findings indicated indirect effects of neighborhood risk, parenting practices, and exposure to delinquent peers on posttraumatic stress, each of these paths operates through their relationship with violence exposure, with exposure to delinquent peers having the strongest mediating effect. Exposure to delinquent peers mediates the effects of neighborhood risks and parental behaviors on exposure to community violence, representing one potential intervention point to disrupt the deleterious effects of exposure to violence among youth. Our findings suggest interventions that address peer influence, and group norms may serve as protective factors against the risk of youth violence exposure. Overall, results highlight the co-occurring socioecological context of community violence exposure for youth living in public housing.

Violence exposure in an urban city: A GxE interaction with aggressive and impulsive behaviors

BACKGROUND

Previous research has demonstrated a reciprocal relationship between community violence exposure and disruptive behavior problems among youth. No study to date, however, has explored the potential interaction between violence exposure in early adolescence and genetics.

METHODS

We explore the gene x environment interaction's impact on teacher-rated aggressive and impulsive behaviors. Violence exposure during the middle school years was assessed using self-report. Genetic data collection occurred in emerging adulthood. A polygenic score was created using findings from a conduct disorder symptomatology genome-wide association study.

RESULTS

Three longitudinal classes of teacher reported aggressive and impulsive behavior were identified. We found a significant relationship between violence exposure and class membership. There was a significant GxE interaction, such that those with below average levels of the polygenic score and who were exposed to violence were more likely to be in the moderately high aggressive and impulsive class as compared to the no to low class.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings highlight the influence of genetic risk together with violence exposure on adolescent problem behavior. Although youth may have little control over the environments in which they live, interventions can and should focus on helping all youth.

Young Urban Adolescents' Activity Spaces, Close Peers, and the Risk of Cannabis Use: A Social-Spatial Longitudinal Analysis

BACKGROUND

An understudied, yet important area of youth development research is the examination of how place affects critical psychosocial processes such as identity formation, problem solving, emotional regulation, and in particular with adolescents, belongingness, autonomy, social competency, and behavioral health. A growing spatially informed literature indicates that youth interact with meaningful places as environmental strategies, shaping developmental trajectories related to behavioral health.

OBJECTIVES

The objective is to investigate the relationship between place preference and health behavior among adolescents, with a focus on substance use behavior, specifically, cannabis use. We theorize that cannabis use is associated with place preference for urban, city types of places, and that this particular place preference interacts with close peer network behaviors.

METHODS

To understand the role of preferred locations, close peer relations, and mental health on cannabis use, 248 adolescents (ages 13 to 14) were studied longitudinally. Logistic regression models tested the moderating effects of peer network health (sum of close friends risk and protective behaviors) on selecting city locations (urban stress/neighborhoods) as preferred places, and subsequent cannabis use.

RESULTS

Results indicated that peer network health moderated the effects of choosing city locations as favorite, increasing the odds of cannabis use more than eight-fold at 24 months.

CONCLUSIONS

Favorite places located in city environments appear to interact with peer risk behaviors influencing the cannabis use of young urban adolescents, even after controlling for the influence of baseline cannabis use, neighborhood disorder the home neighborhood, age, gender, and mental health effects.

Depressive symptoms, social support, and violence exposure among urban youth: A longitudinal study of resilience

Depression is a serious mental health concern among adolescents. Violence exposure is a potent risk factor for depression. Social support may help reduce depression risk, even when adolescents are exposed to violence. Using a compensatory model of resilience, we investigate the influence of violence exposure and social support on depression over time in a sample of urban youth during the high school years (N = 824, 52% female, mean age Year 1 = 14.9). We used growth curve modeling to examine depressive symptoms across adolescence and its association with violence exposure and social support, accounting for important sociodemographic characteristics (sex, socioeconomic status, and race/ethnicity). Depressive symptoms on average increase from Year 1 to 2 of high school and then are stable or decline from Years 2 to 4. Violence observation and conflict in the family were each associated with increased depressive symptoms during the high school years. Mother support was associated with decreased depressive symptoms over time. Our results support a compensatory model of resilience. Promoting positive parent-child communication among urban youth living in disadvantaged contexts may help reduce the probability that exposure to violence will result in depressive symptoms.

Examining factors associated with (in)stability in social information processing among urban school children: a latent transition analytic approach

There is compelling evidence for the role of social information processing (SIP) in aggressive behavior. However, less is known about factors that influence stability versus instability in patterns of SIP over time. Latent transition analysis was used to identify SIP patterns over one year and examine how community violence exposure, aggressive behavior, and behavior regulation relate to (in)stability in SIP. Participants were 429 urban children (ages 7-13, M = 9.58; 86% African American). Latent transition analysis indicated four SIP profiles: stable low, decreasing, increasing, and stable high. Children with consistently high aggressive SIP reported the greatest community violence exposure and aggressive behavior. Compared to children who remained high on aggressive SIP, children whose aggressive SIP declined reported greater behavior regulation, suggesting that individual differences in executive function may account for stability in aggressive SIP during mid- to late childhood.