Violence, Older Peers, and the Socialization of Adolescent Boys in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods

Abstract

Most theoretical perspectives on neighborhood effects on youth assume that neighborhood context serves as a source of socialization, but the exact sources and processes underlying adolescent socialization in disadvantaged neighborhoods are largely unspecified and unelaborated. This paper proposes that cross-cohort socialization by older neighborhood peers is one source of socialization for adolescent boys in such neighborhoods. Data from the National Educational Longitudinal Survey suggest that adolescents in disadvantaged neighborhoods are more likely to spend time with older individuals. Qualitative interview data from 60 adolescent boys in three neighborhoods in Boston are analyzed to understand the causes and consequences of these interactions and relationships. I find that some of the strategies these adolescents employ to cope with violence in disadvantaged neighborhoods promote interaction with older peers, particularly those who are most disadvantaged, and that such interactions can expose adolescents to local, “unconventional,” or “alternative” cultural models.

Examining gendered pathways in the causal chain linking neighborhood navigational strategies and unstructured socializing to adolescent violent offending

“…This is not to suggest that males and females do not share certain risk-avoidance strategies, for example seeking out older peers for protection (see Harding, 2009), or that females do not adopt violent cultural frames (see Jones, 2009;Miller, 2008) in disadvantaged communities. But, the literature suggests that female youths, particularly those living in violent neighborhoods, restrict their routine daily activities to proximal supervised locales such as the home.…”

“…But, there are recent efforts at multilevel theorizing (see Wikström, 2010). Qualitative work has also made great strides in this area (see Harding, 2009). And, appropriately deemed the "person-context nexus," there is no shortage of empirical work that has utilized multilevel statistical analysis to examine individuals within their social contexts (for a review, see Baumer & Arnio, 2012).…”

‘Rolling dolo’: Desistance from delinquency and negative peer relationships over the early adolescent life-course

“…Anderson (1999) argues that, in the absence of conventional adults or 'oldheads', having a number of people or 'defenders' who can be counted on for assistance is a form of protection for teenagers who live in high-risk communities. Harding (2008Harding ( , 2009aHarding ( , 2009bHarding ( , 2010 refers to this as seeking a 'measure of protection'. Taken together, these studies suggest that some urban youth who seek protection develop strong ties to individuals enmeshed and respected in the culture of the street.…”

Making Friends in Violent Neighborhoods: Strategies among Elementary School Children

“…Similarly, soccer players or musicians make friends, merge themselves dyadically, and set the stage for becoming even more similar to one another. (Hartup 1996:7) Friendships and Violence Nevertheless, few of these works have studied contexts where neighborhood violence is a primary concern among the studied population (Harding 2009(Harding , 2010; such contexts may encourage more instrumental than affective action. In the literature on neighborhood violence, two bodies of work have offered contributions relevant to our question.…”

“…Although this work has examined the process across a variety of conventional contexts, there has been comparatively little research on how neighborhood violence affects how children form friends (but see Anderson 1990;Jones 2004Jones , 2009Harding 2009Harding , 2010. This gap in the literature is notable given the copious research on violence in urban areas and on the negative consequences for children of living in disadvantaged neighborhoods (Sampson, Morenoff, and Gannon-Rowley 2002;Chetty, Hendren, and Katz 2016).…”