Individual, Family Background, and Contextual Explanations of Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Youths’ Exposure to Violence

Abstract

We used data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods to examine the extent to which individual, family, and contextual factors account for the differential exposure to violence associated with race/ethnicity among youths. Logistic hierarchical item response models on 2344 individuals nested within 80 neighborhoods revealed that the odds of being exposed to violence were 74% and 112% higher for Hispanics and Blacks, respectively, than for Whites. Appreciable portions of the Hispanic-White gap (33%) and the Black-White gap (53%) were accounted for by family background factors, individual differences, and neighborhood factors. The findings imply that programs aimed at addressing the risk factors for exposure to violence and alleviating the effects of exposure to violence may decrease racial/ethnic disparities in exposure to violence and its consequences.

Self-Control and Lifestyles: Associations to Juvenile Offending, Violent Victimization, and Witnessing Violence

“…Fifth, although the predictive effects of self-control and lifestyles measures were adjusted for several important confounding factors, other domains could also have been considered. Notably, family environment measures other than low parental education, which was included in the current study, could have been incorporated as additional confounding factors (e.g., Zimmerman & Messner, 2013). Thus, we cannot completely rule out the possibility that some associations of the self-control and lifestyle measures to the criterion variables were inflated due to omitted third variables.…”

“…It asserts that specific lifestyle characteristics, such as affiliation with deviant peers who can take on the role of potential offenders or co-offenders (e.g., Sampson & Lauritsen, 1990;Schreck et al, 2002), differentially expose Downloaded by [University of Windsor] at 15:54 17 November 2014 individuals to risky situations which increase the risk for both criminal behavior and victimization (Hindelang et al, 1978). Supporting this notion, research consistently has found that individuals who affiliate with deviant peers are at greater risk for offending (e.g., Maldonado-Molina et al, 2010;Wiesner, Capaldi, & Kim, 2012) and victimization (e.g., Gibson, 2012;MaldonadoMolina et al, 2010;Sampson & Lauritsen, 1990;Schreck, Fisher, & Miller, 2004;Schreck et al, 2002;Zimmerman & Messner, 2013). Reasons provided by researchers for why affiliating with deviant peers increases the likelihood of being victimized include that a group of deviant/delinquent individuals has a greater likelihood of preying on each other, as well as being victimized for retaliatory reasons by other deviant groups (Schreck et al, 2002).…”

“…However, dimensions of self-control were not included in this study. In perhaps the most comprehensive study to date, Zimmerman and Messner (2013) found that violent peers and previous violent offending predicted higher risk for secondary violent victimization, controlling for demographic, low self-control, family, and neighborhood disadvantage factors. In sum, additional research that examines the association of lifestyles measures to direct as well as indirect forms of violent victimization while controlling for other correlates, especially individual dimensions of low self-control and neighborhood factors, is needed.…”

“…The relation between self-control and offending has been documented numerous times (Pratt & Cullen, 2000) and studies using a composite index of self-control have consistently reported a positive association between low self-control and violent victimization (e.g., Gibson, 2012;Gibson et al, 2009;Higgins, Jennings, Tewksbury, & Gibson, 2009;Schreck, 1999;Schreck, Stewart, & Fisher, 2006;Schreck et al, 2002;Stewart et al, 2004;Zimmerman & Messner, 2013). However, debates about the operationalization of the selfcontrol construct are continuing (see, e.g., Baron et al, 2007).…”

“…The existing literature suggests that male gender, ethnic minority status, and low socioeconomic status are positively related to juvenile offending and violence exposure (e.g., Lauritsen et al, 1991;Maldonado-Molina et al, 2010;Morenoff, 2005;Sampson & Laub, 1993;Schreck et al, 2006;Zimmerman & Messner, 2013), although findings have sometimes been mixed (see, e.g., Miller, 2012). Measures of neighborhood hazards also have been fairly consistently linked with higher levels of juvenile offending and violence exposure (e.g., Gibson et al, 2009;Lauritsen et al, 1991;Sampson, Morenoff, & Gannon-Rowley, 2002;Zimmerman & Messner, 2013). A further strength of this study was that the sample encompassed a large share of Hispanic students.…”