Impact of Timing of Exposure to Violence on Violent Behavior in a High Poverty Sample of Inner City African American Youth

• NCJ Number: 216437
• Journal: Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 35 Issue: 5 Dated: October 2006 Pages: 681-692
• Author(s): Richard Spano; Craig Rivera; John Bolland
• Date Published: October 2006
• Length: 12 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study assessed the impact of the timing of exposure to violence on violent behavior in an urban sample of African-American adolescents living in extreme poverty.

Abstract

In this study, covering a 4-year time period, a couple of key findings were revealed. First, exposure to violence (ETV) is a robust predictor of wave 5 (W5) violent behavior, the final wave of survey data. Second, consistent with longitudinal studies of maltreatment, more proximal ETV has a larger impact on violent behavior than more distal ETV. The findings suggest that the timing of ETV should be more closely examined in future research. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings for adolescent development in high poverty settings are discussed. Victimization and ETV are a common set of experiences facing youth living in economically disadvantaged, urban neighborhoods. The effects of ETV on child and adolescent development are a growing concern. Utilizing five waves of annual survey data collected from 1998 to 2002 (the Mobile Youth Survey or MYS), an attempt was made to establish the impact of timing of ETV on violent behavior. The question, does ETV have a short-term or a long-term impact on violent behavior net of the effects of controls? The study utilized youth age 9 to 19 living in 12 high poverty neighborhoods in Mobile, AL. Tables, references