Violence Exposure, Psychological Distress, and Risk Behaviors in a Sample of Inner-City Youth (From Trends, Risks, and Interventions in Lethal Violence: Proceedings of the Third Annual Spring Symposium of the Homicide Research Working Group, P 287-297, 1995, Carolyn Block and Richard Block, eds.)

• NCJ Number: 159911
• Author(s): E J Jenkins
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 11 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Office of Justice Programs (OJP)
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/NCJRS
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. NIJ Research Report, See NCJ-154254 for complete document.

Annotation

This study focuses on the exposure to violence and reactions of a sample of 203 black adolescents living in a high-violence neighborhood in Chicago.

Abstract

The adolescents completed a measure consisting of background questions, a measure of violence exposure, an index of psychological distress symptoms, and a life events measure. The four types of violence exposure included in the analysis were witnessing another person's victimization, personal victimization, and victimization of family or friends regardless of whether they witnessed the event. Sixty-one percent of these youths reported witnessing a shooting, and 47 percent had been shot at. Girls in the sample had higher distress scores, while boys were more likely to engage in risk behaviors. For girls, witnessing violence and the victimization of a friend were more strongly correlated with psychological distress and risk behaviors, while for boys, the strongest relationships existed between personal victimization and distress and risk behaviors, particularly weapon carrying. 4 tables and 25 references