Contextualizing school discipline: Examining the role of general peer and teacher discrimination at the individual- and school-level on individual suspension.

Past research has linked peer and teacher discrimination to risk factors for school discipline, but few studies have examined whether peer and teacher discrimination have a direct impact on school discipline. This study examines the effects of general peer and teacher discrimination at the individual- and school-level on school suspension using nationally representative, secondary data on almost 12,000 youth across 131 schools. Hierarchical logistic regression models indicated that general teacher discrimination at the individual- and school-level-but not general peer discrimination-increased the odds of receiving school suspension.

The salience of social context, opioid antagonist use, and prior opioid exposure as determinants of fatal and non-fatal opioid overdoses.

This study examines the salience of social context for opioid overdoses in Boston from 2014 to 2019. Longitudinal negative binomial models with random effects indicated that higher levels of concentrated disadvantage, residential instability, and illicit drug activity increased annual block group counts of opioid overdoses. Logistic hierarchical and cross-classified random effects models indicated that the use of Narcan and greater exposure to drugs through previous opioid overdose and contextual lillicit drug crime activity reduced the odds of fatal opioid overdose relative to non-fatal opioid overdose.

Association of a Crime Prevention Program for Boys With Mortality 72 Years After the Intervention: Follow-up of a Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Mortality is an important outcome in evaluating crime prevention programs, but little is known about the effects on mortality during the full life course.

Objective: To determine the long-term outcomes of a crime prevention program on mortality and whether the iatrogenic effects on mortality observed in middle age persist or change in old age.

Design: This longitudinal follow-up was conducted in a cohort of boys included in a matched-pair randomized clinical trial (the Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study).

Examining the Contemporaneous, Short-Term, and Long-Term Effects of Secondary Exposure to Violence on Adolescent Substance Use.

The relationship between secondary exposure to violence-defined as witnessing violence in the home, community, or school-and adolescent substance use is well-documented. Yet, multi-wave empirical studies examining this relationship are sparse. In addition, studies have only begun to examine whether this relationship varies by the situational components of the violent event.

Examining Change in Adolescent Street Efficacy and Its Association With Violent Outcomes.

Research suggests that street efficacy-the perceived ability to avoid dangerous situations in one's neighborhood-is related to violent outcomes. We investigated change in street efficacy using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. Measures of street efficacy and violence (offending, victimization, secondary exposure) were constructed at Waves 2 (1997-2000) and 3 (2000-2002) from youth interviews and parent reports.

Contextual Determinants of Adolescent Perceived Early Fatality.

Adolescents overestimate their risk for early or premature death. In turn, perceived early fatality is associated with a host of adverse developmental outcomes. Research on the correlates of perceived early fatality is nascent, and an examination of the contextual determinants of perceived early fatality is largely absent from the literature.

Parents, Peers, Perceived Risk of Harm, and the Neighborhood: Contextualizing Key Influences on Adolescent Substance Use.

Recent research has affirmed the need to examine contextual influences on adolescent substance use in a multilevel framework. This study examined the role of neighborhood opportunities for substance use in promoting adolescent substance use. Data came from two components of the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods: the Longitudinal Cohort Study, consisting of interviews with youth and their primary caregivers across three waves of data with an average span of 4.

Risk Factors for and Behavioral Consequences of Direct Versus Indirect Exposure to Violence.

Research suggests that direct exposure (personal victimization) and indirect exposure (witnessing or hearing about the victimization of a family member, friend, or neighbor) to violence are correlated. However, questions remain about the co-occurrence of these phenomena within individuals. We used data on 1915 youths (with an average age of 12 years at baseline) from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods to examine this issue.

Person-in-context: insights on contextual variation in the victim-offender overlap across schools.

The correlation between victimization and offending (i.e., the victim-offender overlap) is one of the most documented empirical findings in delinquency research, leading researchers to investigate potential contingencies in this relationship.

The covariates of parent and youth reporting differences on youth secondary exposure to community violence.

Survey data for studying youth's secondary exposure to community violence (i.e., witnessing or hearing violence in the community) come from both parents and their children.

Incorporating Unstructured Socializing Into the Study of Secondary Exposure to Community Violence: Etiological and Empirical Implications.

Secondary exposure to community violence, defined as witnessing or hearing violence in the community, has the potential to profoundly impact long-term development, health, happiness, and security. While research has explored pathways to community violence exposure at the individual, family, and neighborhood levels, prior work has largely neglected situational factors conducive to secondary violence exposure. The present study evaluates "unstructured socializing with peers in the absence of authority figures" as a situational process that has implications for secondary exposure to violence.

Individual, family background, and contextual explanations of racial and ethnic disparities in youths' exposure to violence.

We used data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods to examine the extent to which individual, family, and contextual factors account for the differential exposure to violence associated with race/ethnicity among youths. Logistic hierarchical item response models on 2344 individuals nested within 80 neighborhoods revealed that the odds of being exposed to violence were 74% and 112% higher for Hispanics and Blacks, respectively, than for Whites. Appreciable portions of the Hispanic-White gap (33%) and the Black-White gap (53%) were accounted for by family background factors, individual differences, and neighborhood factors.

Gender differences in the effects of parental underestimation of youths' secondary exposure to community violence.

Secondary exposure to community violence is particularly detrimental for male youths, who disproportionately report witnessing community violence and suffering associated trauma-related symptoms. Yet, few studies have investigated whether parents perceive and report similar gender disparities among youths. In addition, few studies have examined the potentially negative effects of parent-child discord as to the youth's level of exposure to violence, or whether these effects vary across gender.

NEIGHBORHOOD CONTEXT AND THE GENDER GAP IN ADOLESCENT VIOLENT CRIME.

Although researchers consistently demonstrate that females engage in less criminal behavior than males across the life course, research on the variability of the gender gap across contexts is sparse. To address this issue, we examine the gender gap in self-reported violent crime among adolescents across neighborhoods. Multilevel models using data from the Project of Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) indicate that the gender gap in violent crime decreases as levels of neighborhood disadvantage increase.