Assessing Neighborhood and Social Psychological Influences on Childhood Violence in an African-American Sample

• NCJ Number: 198023
• Journal: Criminology Volume: 40 Issue: 4 Dated: November 2002 Pages: 801-830
• Author(s): Eric A. Stewart; Ronald L. Simons; Rand D. Conger
• Date Published: November 2002
• Length: 30 pages
• Grant Number(s): MH48165
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health and Human Services; National Institute on Drug Abuse; National Institute of Mental Health
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined the extent to which neighborhood and social-psychological influences predicted childhood violence among 867 African-American youth.

Abstract

On the basis of an overview of previous studies, there is reason to believe that children who reside in neighborhoods with affluent residents engage in less violence than children raised in poor neighborhoods. This hypothesis was tested in the current study. Data were obtained from the first wave of the Family and Community Health Study (FACHS), a multisite investigation of neighborhood and family effects on health and development. Data were collected in Georgia and Iowa, and participants were 867 African-American children (400 boys and 467 girls; 462 in Iowa and 405 in Georgia) aged 10- to 12-years-old; their primary caregivers also participated in the study. Most (84 percent) of the primary caregivers were the children's biological mothers; 6 percent were the children's fathers; 6 percent were the children's grandmothers; 3 percent were foster or adoptive parents; 2 percent were other relatives; 1 percent were stepparents; and less than 1 percent were in nonrelative categories. The dependent variable of childhood violent behavior was measured by using 15 questions from the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children, Version 4. Independent variables measured were neighborhood violence, neighborhood affluence, family socioeconomic status (SES), corporal punishment, quality parenting, adoption of a street code that involves using violence to resolve conflicts, parental use of violence, and demographic control variables. The findings show that neighborhood affluence was the only neighborhood-level variable to exert a significant influence on violent behavior by the children. Furthermore, violence by children was significantly related to social-psychological influences, such as adopting a street code, associating with violent peers, parental use of violence, and quality parenting. Overall, the findings suggested that simply living in a violent neighborhood did not increase the likelihood that children would act violently; however, family, peer, and individual characteristics had a significant role in predicting violent behavior by children. 3 tables and 95 references