Minority and Immigrant Youth Exposure to Community Violence: The Differential Effects of Family Management and Peers

Abstract

Experiences with neighborhood violence can produce negative consequences in youth, including stress, anxiety, and deviant behavior. Studies report that immigrant and minority youth are more likely to be exposed to violence but less likely to perpetrate it. Similarly, research shows parenting practices are differentially adopted by Blacks, Whites, and Hispanics. Although family management strategies can often act as a barrier to the detrimental effects of exposure to community violence (ETV-C), there is a paucity of investigation on how Hispanic subgroups (e.g., Puerto Rican, Mexican) and immigrant families employ such practices in protecting their children against victimization and violence in the community. Applying an ecological framework, we use data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods to examine the role of parenting and peer relationships on youth ETV-C, across race/ethnicity and immigrant generational status. Our sample is drawn from Cohorts 9, 12, and 15, and is over 40% Hispanic-Latino. We investigate the differences in within and outside the home family management strategies in terms of both race/ethnicity and immigrant generational status. Our work also seeks to determine the effects of race/ethnicity and immigrant status on youth ETV-C, while examining the influence of family management and peer relations. Results indicate that the adoption of family management practices is not homogeneous across Hispanic subgroups or immigrant generational status, and parenting practices seem to mediate the relationship between these characteristics and exposure to violence. Variations in parenting practices underscore the need to disentangle the cultural plurality of racial/ethnic grouping and how immigrant generational status influences parenting choices that protect children from exposure to violence in the community.

Association of Immigrant and Refugee Status With Risk Factors for Exposure to Violent Assault Among Youths and Young Adults in Canada

“…This finding suggests that, although prior experiences, including violence, conflict, and forced migration, may contribute to some extent, other factors, such as family cohesion, hope, opportunity, settlement supports, and living in urban centers with high-density immigrant communities (associated with reduced crime and better health outcomes), may contribute to our findings. 8,[27][28][29] We found that with increasing time since migration, there was no change in risk of experiencing violence. Other studies have found that time since migration is associated with increasing perpetration of violence, increasing substance use, and increasing intimate partner violence.…”

Migration, not migrants, is the problem: Delinquency among migrants and non-migrants in Switzerland and ex-Yugoslavia

“…Most observers might be surprised to learn that growing up in ex-Yugoslavia goes along with fewer problems than living as a young migrant in Switzerland, and this independently of the origin. Further, although one study observed higher rates of parental violence among Hispanic migrants in the USA (for example, Antunes and Ahlin, 2018), the fact that migrant parents seem to abuse their children more often than their relatives in the countries of origin has not received any attention so far.…”

Gender Differences in Youth Exposure to Community Violence: A Partial Test of Power-Control Theory

“…Yet, despite our expectation that disorder would consistently predict youth experiences with community violence, this impact is reserved for girls, who seem to experience disorder more negatively than boys. This may be the result of cross-level interactions not captured within these analyses; some evidence indicates that neighborhood disorder influences restrictiveness, as parents tend to actively protect their children against disorder (Antunes & Ahlin, 2018). In addition, it may be that neighborhood disorder need not be extreme and/or pervasive to influence parental management strategies and youth behavior.…”

“…While positive peer support attenuates the negative effects of exposure to violence (Howard, Budge, & McKay, 2010), unstructured socializing and association with deviant, risk-taking peers can increase exposure to violence in the community (Ahlin & Antunes, 2017; Schreck, Wright, & Miller, 2002). Findings also illustrate that peer situational factors mediate the relationship between family management practices and exposure to violence (Ahlin & Antunes, 2017; Antunes & Ahlin, 2018), suggesting that learned power-control dynamics may be reproduced in peer interactions outside the home. Daughters from patriarchal families are believed to experience more parental control than sons, increasing their risk perceptions and lowering risk preferences, resulting in decreased likelihoods of deviance.…”