Community Context and Violence: African American Youth Transitioning to Adulthood

描述(由申请人提供)： 这项申请寻求为期3年的补充资金，用于一项对大约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。第一波的目标年龄是10岁到11岁，目前是20岁到21岁。NIMH已经为这项研究提供了主要资金，并将为该项目再提供3年的资金，其中将包括另一波数据收集(第6波)。在收集第四波和第五波之前，我们从疾控中心获得了补充资金，以扩大我们的研究范围，以考察社区背景对青少年暴力的影响。这些数据导致了几个重要的发现和出版。本提案要求提供资金，以收集另一波社区数据，其中将包括一些新措施。随着他们过渡到成年，我们的参与者花在离家出走的时间越来越多，拜访朋友或享受最喜欢的消遣。我们计划评估目标通常显示的例行社交/娱乐活动的类型，以及这些活动发生地区的风险(例如，街道代码和犯罪的普遍性)和保护性因素(例如，集体效能)。此外，向成年的过渡需要进行一些角色转换(例如，婚姻、就业、参军)。这些角色转变代表着重要的不连续，可以成为人们生活的转折点。对于一些人来说，这些转变提供了一个机会来逃避童年风险因素，实现更传统的生活方式，而对另一些人来说，这些转变的失败和沮丧可能会导致暴力和反社会行为的升级。关于社区背景对这些角色转变的成功谈判的影响，以及这些转变有助于缓和或放大暴力和反社会行为的方式，我们提出了几个假设。我们建议使用将在第6波收集的社区数据，以及目前正在第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恋人那里收集的信息。 公共卫生相关性： 暴力在许多贫困的非裔美国人社区中非常普遍，以至于疾病控制中心将其列为公共卫生问题。这项拟议的研究调查了各种风险和保护因素在非裔美国青年过渡到成年早期时缓和或放大暴力倾向的过程。这些发现将为制定旨在减少非裔美国人社区暴力的政策和计划提供信息。

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.