Adolescents' exposure to community violence and associations with after-school activities across two samples.

Introduction: Exposure to community violence (ECV) continues to be a major public health problem among urban adolescents in the United States. We sought to identify subgroups of adolescents' ECV and examine how after-school activities are related to exposure subgroups across two samples.

Methods: In Study 1 there were 1432 adolescents (Cohort 9 n = 717, M = 11, and Cohort 12 n = 715, M = 14; 52% boys) from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (1994-2002).

Adolescents in the Community: Extracurricular Activities and Sexual Harassment.

Sexual harassment and participation in extracurricular activities are two common experiences for adolescents, yet little research examines the interplay between these two phenomena, particularly among low-income, racial/ethnic minority adolescents. This study examined whether participation in four types of extracurricular activities-school-based, structured community-based, unstructured community-based, and home-based-was associated with adolescents' PTSD and depressive symptoms over time, and whether those relations were mediated by neighborhood-based sexual harassment. Participants were 537 adolescents who were on average 15.

Marginal structural models for estimating the longitudinal effects of community violence exposure on youths' internalizing and externalizing symptoms.

Objective: Longitudinal observational data pose a challenge for causal inference when the exposure of interest varies over time alongside time-dependent confounders, which often occurs in trauma research. We describe marginal structural models (MSMs) using inverse probability weighting as a useful solution under several assumptions that are well-suited to estimating causal effects in trauma research.

Method: We illustrate the application of MSMs by estimating the joint effects of community violence exposure across time on youths' internalizing and externalizing symptoms.

Parental gender differences in attitudes and willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19.

Aims: COVID-19 affects family life world-wide. Determinants of hesitancy around vaccinating children against COVID-19 are critical in guiding public health campaigns. Gender differences among parents may determine willingness to vaccinate children against COVID-19.

Latino/a adolescents facing neighborhood dangers: An examination of community violence and gender-based harassment.

While ample research examines community violence as a serious public health problem that disproportionately affects minority adolescents, less attention focuses on adolescents' experiences of gender-based harassment in poor, urban neighborhoods. Using data from 416 urban, low-income Latino/a adolescents (53% female; M  = 15.5), this study examined (a) the relations between community violence exposure (CVE), gender-based harassment, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and (b) the role of parent-child cohesion as a moderator of the relations between CVE/harassment and PTSD symptoms.

What Happens After School? Linking Latino Adolescents' Activities and Exposure to Community Violence.

Although community violence and the deleterious behavioral and psychological consequences that are associated with exposure to community violence persist as serious public health concerns, identifying malleable factors that increase or decrease adolescents' risk of exposure to community violence remains a significant gap in our knowledge base. This longitudinal study addresses this research gap by investigating adolescents' endorsement of familismo values and participation in three types of after-school activities, specifically home-, school-, and community-based activities, as potential precursors to adolescents' risk for experiencing community violence. The sample consists of 416 Latino high school students (53% female) with a mean age of 15.

Latinx adolescents facing multiple stressors and the protective role of familismo.

Objective: In this study, we cumulatively examined how a number of cultural and general stressors as well as familismo differentially related to Latinx adolescents' psychological well-being as measured by depressive symptoms, anxiety, and future orientation. In addition, we examined whether familismo buffered Latinx adolescents from the negative psychological outcomes associated with both cultural and general stressors.

Method: Two hundred and twenty-four low-income, Latinx 9th graders (Mage = 14.

The role of academic mentors for Latino/a adolescents exposed to community violence.

Aims: We examined the protective role of academic mentors for Latino/a youth exposed to community violence. We tested whether the mentor facilitation of positive growth and mentor school involvement moderated the relations between exposure to violence and Latino/a youth's educational values, school effort, and academic efficacy.

Methods: We used hierarchical linear regressions to examine these relations among 210 Latino/a high school students.

Emotionally numb: Desensitization to community violence exposure among urban youth.

Community violence exposure (CVE) is associated with numerous psychosocial outcomes among youth. Although linear, cumulative effects models have typically been used to describe these relations, emerging evidence suggests the presence of curvilinear associations that may represent a pattern of emotional desensitization among youth exposed to chronic community violence. This study uses longitudinal data to investigate relations between CVE and both internalizing and externalizing symptoms among 3,480 youth ages 3 to 12 at baseline and 9 to 18 at outcome.

Does neighborhood belonging matter? Examining school and neighborhood belonging as protective factors for Latino adolescents.

Across many investigations, school belonging has been linked to several positive outcomes among adolescents, including academic success and psychological well-being. Based on an ecological framework of child development, this study expands on existing research to explore factors that contribute to adolescents' sense of neighborhood as well as school belonging and investigates how belonging in both contexts is related to Latino adolescents' academic and psychological functioning. Participants consisted of 202 Latino adolescents residing in low-income, urban neighborhoods.

Gift and sacrifice: parental involvement in Latino adolescents' education.

Although myriad studies document the benefits of parental involvement in education on various indicators of children's academic performance, less research examines parental involvement among adolescents in low-income Latino families. Incorporating a multidimensional conceptualization of parental involvement, this study examined the relation between parental involvement and academic outcomes in a sample of 223 low-income, Latino adolescents. Results indicated that three types of parental involvement (gift/sacrifice, future discussions/academic socialization, and school involvement) had significant, positive associations with academic outcomes.

In response to community violence: coping strategies and involuntary stress responses among Latino adolescents.

Among poor, urban adolescents, high rates of community violence are a pressing public health concern. This study relies on a contextual framework of stress and coping to investigate how coping strategies and involuntary stress responses may both mediate and moderate the relation between exposure to community violence and psychological well-being. Our sample consists of 223 ninth grade Latino adolescents from poor, urban families.

Always aware (Siempre pendiente): Latina mothers' parenting in high-risk neighborhoods.

Poor mothers contend with numerous economic and environmental stressors that may severely tax their resources for parenting. This study relied on qualitative interviews with 49 low-income Latina mothers to examine how parenting practices are used when facing neighborhood poverty and the threat of community violence. Several themes emerged in the interviews regarding mothers' approaches to parenting.

Perceptions of women's infertility: what do physicians see?

Objective: To assess physicians' awareness of the infertility risk associated with race, age, and education, and to elicit their clinical management recommendations for a hypothetical patient.

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Setting: Surveys were mailed to 1,000 randomly selected primary care physicians in the state of Michigan.

Excavating Culture: Summary of Results.

This is a companion paper to the seven articles also published in this special issue of This paper summarizes and discusses the results from common analyses that were conducted on different datasets. The common analyses were designed to disentangle contextual and ethnic influences on parenting. Initial ethnic group differences were found in many of the datasets with multiple ethnic groups.

Excavating Culture: Disentangling Ethnic Differences from Contextual Influences in Parenting.

Historically, much of the research on parenting has not disentangled the influences of race/ethnicity, SES, and culture on family functioning and the development of children and adolescents. This special issue addresses this gap by disentangling ethnic differences in parenting behaviors from their contextual influences, thereby deepening understanding of parenting processes in diverse families. Six members of the Parenting section of the Study Group on Race, Culture and Ethnicity (SGRCE) introduce and implement a novel approach toward understanding this question.

A bilingual "neighborhood club": intervening with children exposed to urban violence.

Mental health practitioners have offered relatively little in response to the pervasive community violence faced by many children living in impoverished neighborhoods. The "neighborhood club" is a school-based, short-term, support group designed to assist children with the psychological impact of exposure to community violence. Ten "neighborhood clubs" were conducted in two public elementary schools in Detroit, Michigan.

Community violence and children's psychological well-being: does parental monitoring matter?

Poor, inner-city children are exposed to inordinately high rates of community violence. Although the link between exposure to violence and adverse mental health outcomes is well documented, less attention has focused on factors that may buffer children from negative outcomes. Using a sample of 163 4th- and 5th-grade children, this study investigated whether children's perceptions of parental monitoring moderate the relation between children's violence exposure and their psychological well-being, as assessed by depression and hopelessness.

Early problem behavior among children from low-income, mother-headed families: a multiple risk perspective.

Examined proximal and contextual factors most strongly related to externalizing behavior among young children growing up in low-income, mother-headed families. Participants were 50 low-income single mothers and their preschool-age children who were visited twice in the home setting. Measures of proximal (low levels of supportive parenting, high levels of punitive disciplinary practices, low levels of maternal emotional well-being) and contextual (low maternal support, high levels of family stress) risk were assessed in relation to maternal reports of child externalizing behavior and an index of negative child behavior during a clean-up task.

Social support and parenting in poor, dangerous neighborhoods.

This study investigated how stressful environmental conditions influence the relation between mothers' social support and parenting strategies, utilizing interview data from a sample of 262 poor, African American single mothers and their seventh- and eighth-grade children, as well as objective data about respondents' neighborhoods. In general, the results indicated that neighborhood conditions moderate the relation between social support and parenting behaviors. Specifically, as neighborhood conditions worsened, the positive relation between emotional support and mothers' nurturant parenting was weakened.