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The quality of adolescent dating relationships is an outcome of developmental importance for young people exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) in childhood. As adolescents explore romantic interests for the first time, it is important to consider whether youth who have witnessed IPV have an increased likelihood of adolescent dating violence (ADV) victimization and/or perpetration. This systematic review seeks to synthesize empirical literature on ADV victimization and perpetration outcomes in youth exposed to IPV, examine mechanisms that may explain ADV outcomes in IPV-exposed youth, and summarize methodological factors that influence interpretation of findings. Seven bibliographic databases were searched through August 2020 for a broader evidence and gap mapping (EGM) project examining published empirical studies on child outcomes of IPV exposure. Following de-duplication, 350 empirical studies on child IPV exposure outcomes were identified and categorized into child outcome themes, including 29 studies that examine ADV victimization and/or perpetration among IPV-exposed youth. The association between IPV exposure and ADV perpetration and victimization varies widely, with factors such as gender, mental health symptoms, beliefs about violence, and emotion regulation differentially influencing outcomes. Inconsistencies in measurement of IPV, ADV, and sample ages make cross-study comparisons challenging. Practice and research implications are addressed, including the importance of examining strengths-based youth assets and resilient trajectories of healthy dating relationships among IPV-exposed youth., Author(s): Kylie E. Evans [sup.1] , Hyunjune Lee [sup.1] , Katie N. Russell [sup.1] , Megan R. Holmes [sup.1] , Kristen A. Berg [sup.1] [sup.2] , Anna E. Bender [sup.1] [...]

While female crime, and particularly young female violence, has long been a titillating subject for the media, recent reports suggest an upsurge in violence amongst girls in New Zealand. This [...]

With their distinct cultural heritage and rural boundaries, American Indian reservation communities offer a unique opportunity to explore protective factors that help buffer adolescents from potential risk behaviors such as violence. Prior published research on Indian communities has not explored three potential protective factors for violence--parental monitoring of adolescents and friends, adolescents' self-efficacy to avoid fighting, and adolescents' interest in learning more about their traditional culture. This paper explores the relationship between these factors and reduced risk of reported violence. In 1998, 630 American Indian students in grades 6-12 were surveyed in five Midwestern, rural Indian reservation schools. Path analysis was used to identify the direct and indirect association of the three potential protective factors with reduced violence behavior. There were significant gender differences both in perceived parental monitoring and in adolescents' self-efficacy. For female adolescents, parental monitoring had the strongest inverse relationship with female adolescents' involvement in violence. Female adolescents' self-efficacy and their interest in learning more about their culture were also inversely associated with violence and therefore potentially important protectors. Male adolescents who reported more interest in learning the tribe's culture had better self-efficacy to avoid violence. However, self-efficacy did not successfully predict their reported involvement in peer violence. These findings support exploring gender differences, parental monitoring, self-efficacy training as well as cultural elements in future violence intervention studies. Further investigation is needed to identify protective factors for risk behaviors among male adolescents and test the generalizability to non-reservation based adolescents. Keywords American Indian adolescents * Protective factors for peer violence * Parental monitoring * Self-efficacy * Traditional culture, Introduction With their distinct cultural heritage and rural boundaries, American Indian reservation communities offer a unique opportunity to explore protective factors that help buffer adolescents from potential risk behaviors such [...]

Student behavior inside and outside of the classroom is an issue that impacts faculty, students, student affairs personnel, and the entire college community. Any type of violence or disrespectful behavior [...]

For many Cape Flats communities in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, gangsterism defines the dominant culture. How the state of wellness in such communities influences decisions that individuals make, and the choices that are available to them when faced with hardships, violence-related trauma, and socioeconomic crises, seldom seem to be part of the research agenda. Limited research has been conducted on the well-being of the youth who grow up in gang-infested areas. This article reports on research that sought to develop a critical understanding how the childhood experiences of township youth influence their decisions to become gangsters. The findings shows that decisions that township youth make cannot be separated from their community's social disorganisation. Gangsterism formed a safe backdrop to childhoods characterised by a lack of personal validation in families, scarcity of suitable role models and personal economic deprivation. The street gang provided the stability and validation that was lacking in their home environments. However, in adulthood their uncritical acceptance of the gangster lifestyle is challenged. The research found that critical incidents in their lives force them to re-evaluate their childhood decisions. It is when critically reflecting on the meaning of their lives that decisions to leave the gang occur., Introduction The stories of people's lives have to be read within the historical, cultural, and political contexts that shape them. This seems to not be the case when the phenomenon [...]

The issue of violent video game influences on youth violence and aggression remains intensely debated in the scholarly literature and among the general public. Several recent meta-analyses, examining outcome measures most closely related to serious aggressive acts, found little evidence for a relationship between violent video games and aggression or violence. In a new meta-analysis, C. A. Anderson et al. (2010) questioned these findings. However, their analysis has several methodological issues that limit the interpretability of their results. In their analysis, C. A. Anderson et al. included many studies that do not relate well to serious aggression, an apparently biased sample of unpublished studies, and a 'best practices' analysis that appears unreliable and does not consider the impact of unstandardized aggression measures on the inflation of effect size estimates. They also focused on bivariate correlations rather than better controlled estimates of effects. Despite a number of methodological flaws that all appear likely to inflate effect size estimates, the final estimate of r = .15 is still indicative of only weak effects. Contrasts between the claims of C. A. Anderson et al. (2010) and real-world data on youth violence are discussed. Keywords: computer games, mass media, youth violence, aggression, child development DOI: 10.1037/a0018566

Spontaneous memorials that emerged at Columbine after the shootings became a focal point of news coverage. Especially visible in this discourse were 15 wooden crosses that symbolized the 13 victims of the shootings and the 2 youth who carried out the shootings. The discourse about such memorials has much to reveal about the collective meanings of the events that gave rise to them. In the case of the crosses of Columbine, these meanings are matters of both consensus and contestation. This article examines how the news media constructed the controversy over the crosses through the ways that they represented the shootings, their aftermath, and the participants. It also examines how the resolution to the controversy was constructed from the very language used to construct it. The conclusion examines Columbine's role as a model for public mourning, one that suggests the victory of traditional senses of moral culpability. Keywords: Columbine; school shootings; media framing; collective memory; memorials; youth violence

Although youth violence and 'delinquency' have frequently generated fear of alienated youth in American life, especially since the 1950s, the media coverage of the Columbine shootings reconstructed youth alienation in novel ways, generating a new fear and reality of 'alien' youth. Analysis of both print and television media shows that following Columbine, school shooters have come to stand for an entire constellation of threats and troubles now ostensibly emanating from the very lifeworlds of formerly harmless White suburban youth. These lifeworlds have been typically framed in terms of alienation: as new forms of adolescent estrangement from parents, schools, and the major institutions and dominant culture of American life. Keywords: alienation; columbine; media; spectacle

The perpetration of severe inter-sibling violence (SISV) remains a largely unexplored area of family violence. This article describes an investigation of risk factors for intentional SISV perpetration. A sample of 111 young people under the care of the Scottish criminal justice or welfare systems was studied. A SISV perpetration interview schedule was developed to measure the influence of 43 potential predictor variables. The Buss and Perry Aggression Questionnaire and Levenson's Self-Report Psychopathy Scale were also employed in this exploratory analysis. Keywords: risk factors; violence, sibling aggression, weapon use

This study investigates the role of neighborhoods in adolescent violence in poor neighborhoods in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The study is part of a larger longitudinal project examining risk and resilience in adolescents' ages 12 to 15 years old and their caregivers. Using a cross-sectional design, a self-completion questionnaire, and an interviewer questionnaire, the authors assessed violent behaviors among participants across demographics, characteristics, and neighborhood social disorganization using the concepts of physical disorders and social disorder. Adolescent violence was positively associated with social disorder. The finding that adults in these neighborhoods walk around with visible firearms and engage in fighting, may have led adolescents to perceive that violence is an accepted behavior. Furthermore, socially disorganized neighborhoods might be less likely to organize on their own behalf because the occurrence of negative experience limits the amount of social support and resources that are available in the neighborhood. Keywords: violent behaviors; neighborhood social disorganization; Puerto Rico; substance use

Youth gangs have received substantial scholarly and public attention during the past two decades. Although most of the extant research on youth gang members has focused on their offending behaviors, recent studies have examined the victimization of youth gang members relative to their non-gang peers. Gang members generally have been found to be at increased risk of victimization, although the reasons for this relationship have not fully been explored. The current study uses data from a multisite study of youth to explore whether the gang membership-victimization link is mediated by lifestyles and routine activities. In other words, is gang members' involvement in delinquent lifestyles and routine activities a viable explanation for their increased risk of serious violent victimization? Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research and policy are discussed. Keywords: gang membership; adolescents: victimization; violence; surveys

Southeast Asian adolescents in the United States face the daily challenge of adjusting to the American culture and their culture of origin. However, little is known about how the patterns of their bicultural adjustment influence psychological symptoms, especially when faced with other challenges such as community violence and negative life events. Additionally, the overrepresentation of Southeast Asian youth in the mental health and juvenile justice systems also necessitates a deeper understanding of the adjustment of this group of adolescents. Data from a sample of 80 Vietnamese and Cambodian adolescents who were between 13 and 18 years old revealed high rates of community violence witnessing and victimization, and a moderate level of negative life events. All of these stressors were related to higher externalizing and trauma-related symptoms, but only violence victimization and negative life events were related to higher internalizing symptoms. There was an additive effect of higher bicultural orientation related to lower externalizing and traumatic-stress symptoms in the face of stress and violence exposure, but no moderation effects were found. Keywords: community violence; negative life events; bicultural orientation; Vietnamese Americans; Cambodian Americans

This article examines the extent to which participation in high school interscholastic sports contributes to male violence. Deriving competing hypotheses from social control, social learning, and masculinity theories, I use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to test if (1) type of sport and (2) peer athletic participation, contribute to the risks of male serious fighting. Contrary to social control expectations, analyses suggest that athletic involvement fails to inhibit male violence. Moreover, there is a strong relationship between contact sports and violence. Football players and wrestlers, as opposed to baseball, basketball, tennis, and other athletes, are significantly more likely than nonathletic males to be involved in a serious fight. Additionally, the direct effect of football is explained by the football participation of individuals' peers. Males whose friends play football are more likely to fight than other males, supporting perspectives that emphasize peer contexts as important mediators. Overall, findings are consistent with the expectations of social learning and masculinity arguments. The theoretical and policy implications of these results are discussed.

The authors examine the relationship between 2 separate but interrelated findings in the epidemiology of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD): women's greater PTSD risk following traumatic events and the sensitizing effects of a prior trauma on the PTSD response to a subsequent trauma. Data come from a representative sample of 1,698 young adults from a large U.S. city. Analysis was conducted on the subset exposed to traumatic events. Women's risk for PTSD following assaultive violence was higher than men's. When assaultive violence preceded a later nonassaultive trauma in women, there was an increased risk (relative risk = 4.9) for PTSD, which was not observed in men. The relative risk estimate in women was significantly higher than in men. These findings suggest that assaultive violence elicits women's PTSD response directly and by sensitizing them to the effects of subsequent traumatic events of lesser magnitude. Keywords: PTSD, gender differences, prior trauma, assaultive violence

This study examined the association of victimization in a physically violent dating relationship with risk behaviors, age of risk behavior initiation, and co-occurrence of risk behaviors among students in grades 9 through 12 in the United States. Data were from the 2003 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). Nearly 9% of students reported experiencing dating violence victimization. Dating violence victimization was associated with alcohol use, marijuana use, and having ever had sexual intercourse among female students and having ever had sexual intercourse among male students. Dating violence victimization also was associated with early initiation of alcohol use among female students. The odds of dating violence victimization increased as the number of risk behaviors increased and as the number of lifetime sexual partners increased. These risk behavior patterns should serve as warning signs of elevated risk for dating violence victimization and may be helpful in identifying adolescents who could benefit from targeted, preventive interventions. Keywords: dating violence; risk behaviors; student

Acts scales, the most common way of measuring partner violence, have been criticized for being too simplistic to capture the complexities of partner violence. An alternative measurement approach is to use typologies that consider various aspects of context. In this study, the authors identified typologies of dating violence perpetration by adolescents. They conducted in-depth interviews with 116 girls and boys previously identified by an acts scale as perpetrators of dating violence. They provided narrative descriptions of their dating violence acts. For boys and girls, many acts considered violent by the acts scale were subsequently recanted or described as nonviolent. From the narratives, they identified four types of female perpetration that were distinguished by motives, precipitating events, and the abuse history of the partners. One type of perpetration accounted for most acts by boys. The findings are discussed relative to dating violence measurement, prevention and treatment, and development of theory. Keywords: adolescent dating violence

This article describes the Early Sexualization Project at the Women's YWCA in Montreal of Montreal. The author presents the framework she developed to analyze the links between the hypersexualization of [...]

Studies have shown that exposure to discrimination increases the probability that African American adolescents will engage in delinquent behavior, especially acts of violence. The present study extended this research by examining the extent to which supportive parenting buffers a youth from these deleterious consequences of discrimination. Analyses based upon two waves of data from a sample of 332 African American adolescent males and their caretakers supported this hypothesis. Further, the results indicated that there are two avenues whereby supportive parenting reduces the probability that discrimination will lead to violence. First, supportive parenting decreases the chances that discrimination will lead to anger and a hostile view of relationships. Second, supportive parenting lowers the risk that anger or a hostile view of relationships, when they develop, will result in violence.

The concept of street efficacy, defined as the perceived ability to avoid violent confrontations and to be safe in one's neighborhood, is proposed as a mechanism connecting aspects of adolescents' 'imposed' environments to the choices they make in creating their own ''selected'' environments that minimize the potential for violent confrontations. Empirical models using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods suggest that street efficacy is substantially influenced by various aspects of the social context surrounding adolescents. Adolescents who live in neighborhoods with concentrated disadvantage and low collective efficacy, respectively, are found to have less confidence in their ability to avoid violence after controlling for an extensive set of individual- and family-level factors. Exposure to violence also reduces street efficacy, although it does not explain the association between collective efficacy and individual street efficacy. Adolescents 'confidence in their ability to avoid violence is shown to be an important predictor of the types of environments they select for themselves. In particular, adolescents with high levels of street efficacy are less likely to resort to violence themselves or to associate with delinquent peers.

A growing body of research has linked exposure to violence to violent behavior, but few studies have examined the impact of the timing of exposure to violence on violent behavior among inner city, minority youth. Theoretical insights derived from developmental psychology and psychopathology (DPP) and Agnew's general strain theory (GST) give contrasting accounts of whether exposure to violence has a short term or long term impact on violent behavior. Five waves of data collected from African American youth living in twelve high poverty inner city neighborhoods was used to examine how the timing of exposure to violence over a four year time period impacts year five violent behavior. Multivariate results support GST's contention that more proximal exposure to violence has a larger impact on violent behavior. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings for adolescent development in high poverty settings are discussed. Keywords Exposure to violence * Victimization * Cycle of violence * Inner city poverty * General strain theory

Previous research has suggested a link between athletic involvement and elevated levels of adolescent violence outside the sport context. The present study expanded on this literature by positing differences in the sport-violence relationship across dimensions of athletic involvement (athletic participation vs. jock identity), type of violence (family vs. nonfamily), and gender as well as by examining the impact of binge drinking on the sport-violence relationship. Regression analyses using a sample of 608 Western New York adolescents indicated that (a) jock identity (but not athletic participation) was associated with more frequent violence, (b) jock identity predicted nonfamily violence (but not family violence), and (c) the link between jock identity and nonfamily violence was stronger for boys than for girls. Binge drinking predicted family violence among nonjocks only. Keywords: adolescent violence; binge drinking; athletic involvement; gender

Prospective investigations have demonstrated support for the cycle of violence theory. However, few studies have examined whether or not abuse occurring during adolescence increases the prevalence and frequency of criminal involvement, or explored the long-term consequences of such victimization. In addition, there has been little investigation of whether or not the effects of abuse vary depending on characteristics of the victim, such as sex, race/ethnicity, age, family structure or income. Using data from the National Youth Survey, this study demonstrates that adolescent physical abuse has immediate and enduring effects on the prevalence and frequency of a variety of self-reported offenses, including violent and non-violent crimes, drug use and intimate partner violence. Furthermore, the study reveals that while victimization increases the prevalence of offending for victims of varying backgrounds, the frequency of offending is moderated by family income, area of residence, and family structure. Implications for prevention are discussed. KEY WORDS: cycle of violence; victimization; intimate partner violence; drug use; adolescence., The cycle of violence theory, proposing that victims of child maltreatment are at high risk for offending, has received considerable support from recent prospective investigations (Brezina, 1998; Kakar, 1996; Smith [...]

The purpose of this study was to examine how extracurricular activities relate to rural youth violence. Gender differences were examined across all of the study variables. Self-report data were collected from 235 teenagers from a rural, ethnically diverse, Virginia community. Correlations revealed a significant inverse relationship between church activity and weapon carrying. Time in non-school clubs (B = .444, p = .000) was the best predictor of fighting frequency for boys. Time in non-school clubs (B = .315, p = .001) and time in religious activities (B = -.291, p = .003) were the best predictors of weapon carrying for boys. Time in extracurricular activities (B = -.267, p = .016), time volunteering (B = .262, p = .007), exercise frequency (B = -.221, p = .046), and number of sports team memberships (B = .240, p = .021) were significant predictors of fighting frequency for girls. None of the activity participation variables were predictive of female weapon carrying. Findings suggest that different types of extracurricular activities are predictive of violent activity. KEY WORDS: extracurricular activities; youth violence; resiliency.

What we now know about violence in the United States is that it is a common occurrence and recurrence for youth. Self-report methods have great(v enhanced our understanding of interpersonal violence. Specifically, from the 1980s to the present the age group most vulnerable to violence is youth. In addition, and in any given year, one third will physically fight with peers, more than one third physically fight with dating partners, and a majority of those who fight with either peers or partners will repeat this at least one more time. Keywords: youth; everyday violence; relationship violence; self-report; chronicity

Studies examining the consequences of juvenile exposure to violence focus largely on psychological outcomes and often ignore the ways in which exposure is associated with deviant peers and juvenile offending. Using data from the National Survey of Adolescents (NSA), a nationally representative sample of juveniles between the ages of 12 and 17, we examine the relationship between various types of exposure to violence and violent offending. Based on Hindelang, Gottfredson, and Garofalo's Lifestyle model of victimization (1978), the authors argue that exposure to violence is indicative of a lifestyle of violence. Such a lifestyle makes juveniles susceptible to victimization, witnessing violence, and association with violent peers. The findings demonstrate that these indicators of violent lifestyles in turn act as a risk factor for violent offending. Keywords: exposure to violence; lifestyle; routine activities

Objectives. This study determined 4-year postintervention effects of Safe Dates on dating violence, booster effects, and moderators of the program effects. Methods. We gathered baseline data in 10 schools that were randomly allocated to a treatment condition. We collected follow-up data 1 month after the program and then yearly thereafter for 4 years. Between the 2- and 3-year follow-ups, a randomly selected half of treatment adolescents received a booster. Results. Compared with controls, adolescents receiving Safe Dates reported significantly less physical, serious physical, and sexual dating violence perpetration and victimization 4 years after the program. The booster did not improve the effectiveness of Safe Dates. Conclusions. Safe Dates shows promise for preventing dating violence but the booster should not be used. (Am J Public Health. 2004;94:619-624)

For several decades, we have witnessed a surge in public policies aimed at ending child maltreatment, youth violence, and adult domestic violence. Commensurate with this increased interest has been a growing body of research on each issue's etiology, affected population, and the public policy and prevention impacts. Even a cursory review of the literature suggests a number of commonalities across these forms of violence. As such, it seems timely and prudent to craft a research framework that facilitates the identification and dissemination of practice and polity innovations that can address all three concerns. This article articulates an overarching framework to guide researchers in better identifying common avenues of study. After summarizing the commonalities found across the three areas, the authors identify crosscutting issues that have particular relevance for advancing our understanding of violence and its effects on personal and social interactions. Keywords: violence; prevention; research; co-occurrence

Abstract: The purpose of this document is to provide an overview of the rising occurrences of adolescent violence in the American school systems and how various theories can be used [...]

Researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners continually attempt to develop and implement strategies that address the onset and continuance of violent behavior in young people. Researchers in multiple disciplines have identified risk factors that predispose young people to later violent offending (e.g., school performance, demographic characteristics). It is now recognized that many youth who have contact with the juvenile justice system also have mental health and/or substance abuse disorders. A study of 2,312 youth examines the relationships between mental health and substance abuse history and violent offending. Mental health and co-occurring disorder histories are related to higher levels of later violent offending, while substance abuse history is related to lower levels of violent offending. Overall, it is difficult to untangle the predictive effects of problem history from those of more traditional criminological risk factors. KEYWORDS Mental health, substance abuse, violence, juvenile delinquency, multi-problem 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. Key words: Afrocentric socialization, Black youth, cultural identity, violence prevention, YOUTH VIOLENCE (1) has reached epidemic proportions in the United States in the last 2 decades, particularly among adolescent and young adult males (Fingerhut & Kleinman, 1990; Hennes, 1998). Fingerhut [...]

Evaluation research typically treats standards of violence prevention programs, like other curricula, as unquestioned values of a good society, while identifying youth as the problem to be solved. This article explains how the evaluative gaze can, in contrast, be critically fixed on the interpretations of various stake holders in the violence prevention enterprise, including curriculum authors, teachers, and youth, whose social values are often under-represented. In the context of a yearlong literacy-based violence prevention curriculum focusing on racial and ethnic discrimination in 3rd and 5th grade urban classrooms, 5 teachers, their classes, and 36 individual students from these classes expressed contradictory and conforming values, suggesting to us the need to invite negotiation of social values as part of democratic education.

This introduction presents the theoretical, methodological, and practical rationale for 'Youth perspectives on violence and injustice,' a special issue of the Journal of Social Issues. Our approach to youth violence research raises questions about what counts as normative youth behavior and broadens the nature of inquiry so that understandings and goals of young people, especially those from discriminated groups, contribute to re-defining the problem and its analysis. We also underscore how the articles in this issue illuminate youth perspectives via novel theoretical and methodological tools. After presenting the organizing themes of social justice and development: youth perspectives through history, culture, and community, youth confronting public institutions, and youth transformations through relationships, we preview themes in the integrative summary.

Child Behavior Checklists were completed in home interviews by parents of 7-16-year-olds in 1976, 1989, and 1999. Competence scores decreased from 1976 to 1989, but increased in 1999. Problem scores increased from 1976 to 1989 and decreased in 1999 but remained higher than in 1976. Items, empirically based scales, and DSM-oriented scales showed similar patterns for demographically similar nonreferred samples assessed in 1976, 1989, and 1999 and for national samples that included referred children assessed in 1989 and 1999. For the 114 problem items that were common to the 1976, 1989, and 1999 assessments, the Q correlation was .98 between the mean scores on the 114 items in 1976 versus 1989 and was .94 between the mean scores on the 114 items in 1976 vs. 1999. This indicated very high stability in the rank ordering of item scores across intervals up to 23 years. For all children, the 1-year prevalence rate for mental health services use was 13.2% in 1989 versus 12.8% in 1999. For children with deviant Total P roblems scores, the 1989 prevalence for service use was 30.5 versus 26.6% in 1999. Neither difference was statistically significant. KEY WORDS: epidemiology; secular changes; Child Behavior Checklist; behavior problems; mental health services.

The self-reported violent experiences of adolescents living in a public-subsidized urban high-rise building were examined. This effort was part of an interdisciplinary, community-university collaboration program called the HOME (High-rise On-site Multifamily Environments) Family Support Project. A survey of violent experiences and a one-on-one structured interview were conducted with 20 adolescent residents. Results of the quantitative and qualitative analyses revealed high degrees of exposure to violence among these adolescents, concerns for their personal safety, as well as insights into what they believe adults could and should be doing to address increasing levels of community violence. The implications of these results for conducting ecologically valid research on sensitive issues with adolescents and for family support program planning are discussed., Children in America today are experiencing and being exposed to a greater degree of violence than past generations. Homicide is the second leading cause of death for persons 15 to […]

A causal model is formulated for the thesis that in inner-city youth exposed to high levels of violence, cognitions that normalize violence mitigate affective effects of exposure while increasing risk for violent behavior, thus perpetuating violence in the very process of adapting to it psychologically. Gender differences in the cognitive normalization of violence may explain gender differences in affective and behavioral effects of exposure. Empirical studies are needed to directly test this model.

The present study examined whether negative coping mediated the relation between exposure to violence and psychological outcomes (posttraumatic stress symptoms, depression, and anxiety) in a sample of 120 inner-city African American adolescents (ages 10 to 14). Increased community violence was shown to be related to the use of negative coping strategies (avoidance, aggression, and internalizing behaviors), which mediated the relation between violence and all three outcomes.