Community Context and Violence: African American Youth Transitioning to Adulthood

描述（由申请人提供）： 该申请寻求3年的补充资金，用于对大约710名非洲裔美国人过渡到成年的研究。我们目前正在收集第五波数据。第一波的目标是10-11岁，目前是20-21岁。NIMH为该研究提供了主要资金，并为该项目提供了另外3年的资金，其中包括一波数据收集（第6波）。在收集第4波和第5波之前，我们从疾病预防控制中心获得了补充资金，以扩大我们的研究，以研究社区环境对青年暴力的影响。这些数据导致了一些重要的研究结果和出版物。本提案要求提供资金，以收集新一波社区数据，其中将包括一些新措施。随着他们向成年人过渡，我们的参与者正在花费越来越多的时间离家拜访朋友或享受最喜欢的聚会。我们计划评估目标通常显示的常规社交/娱乐活动的类型和风险（例如，街头规范和犯罪的普遍性）和保护性因素（例如，集体效能），这些活动发生的地区的特点。此外，向成年的过渡需要一些角色转变（例如，婚姻、就业、参军）。这些角色转变代表了重要的不连续性，可以成为人们生活的转折点。对一些人来说，这些转变提供了一个逃避童年风险因素和实现更传统的生活方式的机会，而对其他人来说，这些转变的失败和挫折可能导致暴力和反社会行为的升级。我们已经开发了几个假设，关于社区环境对这些角色转换的成功谈判的影响，以及这些转换有助于缓和或放大暴力和反社会行为的方式。我们建议使用在第6波收集的社区数据，沿着目前正在第5波收集的数据，以检验这些不同的假设。第六波数据将包括从参与者最好的朋友和浪漫伴侣那里收集的信息。 公共卫生相关性： 暴力在许多贫困的非洲裔美国人社区非常普遍，以至于疾病控制中心将其列为公共卫生问题。拟议的研究调查的过程中，各种风险和保护因素有助于缓和或放大暴力倾向的非洲裔美国青年过渡到成年早期。这些调查结果将为制定旨在减少非洲裔美国人社区暴力的政策和方案提供信息。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application seeks 3 years of supplemental funding for a study of approximately 710 African Americans transitioning to adulthood. We are currently in the midst of collecting the 5th wave of data. The targets were 10-11 years of age at wave 1 and are currently 20-21. NIMH has provided primary funding for the study and is funding the project for another 3 years which will include one more wave of data collection (wave 6). Prior to collecting waves 4 and 5, we obtained supplemental funds from the CDC to expand our study in order to examine the effects of community context on youth violence. These data have lead to several important findings and publications. The present proposal requests funds to collect an additional wave of community data that will include a number of new measures. As they transition to adulthood, our participants are spending increasing amounts of time away from home visiting friends or enjoying favorite hangouts. We plan to assess the types of routine social/recreational activities that targets typically display and the risk (e.g., prevalence of street code and crime) and protective factors (e.g., collective efficacy) that characterize the areas in which these activities occur. Further, the transition to adulthood entails a number of role transitions (e.g., marriage, employment, joining the military). These role transitions represent important discontinuities that can serve as turning points in people's lives. For some, these transitions provide an opportunity to escape childhood risk factors and achieve a more conventional life style, whereas for others failure and frustration regarding these transitions may lead to an escalation of violence and antisocial behavior. We have developed several hypotheses regarding the effect of community context on the successful negotiation of these role transitions, as well as the manner in which these transitions serve to temper or amplify violence and antisocial behavior. We propose to use community data to be collected at wave 6, along with data currently being collected in wave 5, in order to test these various hypotheses. The wave 6 data will include information collected from participants' best friends and romantic partners. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Violence is so prevalent in many impoverished African American communities that the Center for Disease Control has labeled it a public health issue. The proposed research investigates the processes whereby various risk and protective factors serve to temper or amplify violent tendencies as African American youth make the transition to early adulthood. These findings will inform the development of policies and programs designed to reduce violence in African American communities.