Exposure to violence, student fear, and low academic achievement: African American males in the critical transition to high school

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Abstract

High rates of exposure to violence and poor school outcomes are well established among African American males. In the current study, exposures to violence in the school and neighborhood and parent factors were examined as predictors of school outcomes among a sample of ninth-grade African American males in the critical transition to high school. Spencer's Phenomenological Variant Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST) was used to conceptualize individual experiences with violence. This research builds on existing work by examining factors that mediate the relation between violence exposure and school-related outcomes. A structural equation modeling strategy revealed that exposure to violence predicted decreased feelings of safety in the school and neighborhood and lower levels of parental support and involvement in school, which, in turn, was associated with lower student self-esteem and academic success.

Highlights

► School/neighborhood violence and parent factors were examined. ► Used to predict school outcomes. ► Sample-ninth-grade black males transitioning to high school. ► SEM model predicted decreased feelings of safety at school and neighborhood. ► Low parental support was associated with low student self-esteem and achievement.

Introduction

Youth exposures to violence reached epidemic proportions in the 1990s (Glodich, 1998, Koop and Lundberg, 1992, Pynoos, 1993). The definition of exposure to violence varies, however, depending on a researcher's discipline and research agenda (Woolley & Patton, 2009). The research reported here, in particular, focused on the effects of exposure to violence in the school and neighborhood on educational outcomes for low-income African American youth. As such, we define exposure to violence for the purposes of the current research as youth experiencing, witnessing, or hearing about violent events across the key microsystems of school and neighborhood. These key microsystems are emphasized as they provide a structural and normative context to identify and locate sequelae associated with violence exposure.

Research on youth violence exposure is often epidemiologic, lacking a theoretical foundation. Further, studies informed by theory typically apply sociological frameworks, which do not examine psychosocial processes resulting from multigenerational exposure to racism or how youth from nondominant race or ethnicity groups perceive and adapt to structural barriers (Spencer, 2001). One way in which to conceptualize the experiences of African American youth exposed to violence in their school or neighborhood is through the Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST). PVEST emphasizes experiences unique to the individual within a broader ecological context. Such experiences and contexts include connections between “risks, stressors, coping responses, identity process and outcomes” (Spencer, 2001, p. 56).

Section snippets

Theoretical framework

Several theories strive to explain the social and economic disadvantages and related sequelae found in urban communities. Two widely applied theories are concentration effects and social disorganization theory. According to Julius Wilson (1987), concentration effects were brought about by the social transformation of inner-city areas in the United States in the 1970s to 1990s resulting in concentrated populations of African American, poor, and female-headed households. These shifts increased

Exposure to violence and the transition to high school

Prior research suggests that African American males experience higher rates of violence exposure (Bell & Jenkins, 1993). For example, Gorman-Smith and Tolan (1998) found that 30% of African American boys reported exposure to three or more violent events during the previous year. Findings from recent research also suggest little gender difference and girls are becoming more violent (Espelage et al., 2004, Guerra et al., 2003, Litrownik et al., 2003); however, boys are still more likely to behave

Neighborhood factors

Adolescents, males, racial/ethnic minority groups, and low-income individuals have a higher probability of being exposed to violence (Bell and Jenkins, 1993, Bowen and Bowen, 1999, U.S. Surgeon General's Office, 2001). To illustrate, Bell and Jenkins found that 45% of youth (n = 270) on the Southside of Chicago reported having seen someone killed, while 66% reported having seen someone shot. In fact, homicide is the second leading cause of death for African American males, ages 15–19 (Margolin &

Developmental sequelae of exposure to violence

The negative effects of violence exposure for African American youth are well documented (Dempsey et al., 2000, Mazza and Overstreet, 2000). For example, community violence exposures have been linked to increased risk for depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), aggression, drug use, or low self-esteem (Gorman-Smith & Tolan, 1998). Only a few studies have examined the impact on educational outcomes. Such research has drawn correlations between low academic achievement and

Social support as protective factor

Social support may mitigate the effects of violence exposures among African American youth (Garmezy, 1983). Research using the U.S. Census data found that inner-city African American youth who were exposed to high rates of violence perceived lower social support Proctor & Dalaker (2001). In a clinical study of social support and violence exposure, social support was found to moderate the relation between exposure to family violence and psychopathology, but had no influence on exposure to

Current study

Informed by PVEST and the emerging body of research on the constellation of negative effects of violence exposure on youth, the current study responds to the need for more research into how exposure to violence in the school and neighborhood impacts key psychological and academic outcomes for African American early adolescent males in the transition to high school. For the present study, variables were selected across three domains: individual, family, and neighborhood. More specifically, we

Source of data

The School Success Profile (SSP; Bowen & Richman, 2001) is an ecologically oriented school practice instrument that collects self-report data from middle and high school students. The SSP contains 220 questions that assess students' risk and protective factors within the four microsystems affecting school outcomes – school, family, peers, and community – as well as about their health and well-being and academic performance and the reliability and validity of the scales in the SSP have been

Results

In the final model, depicted in Fig. 2, the data fit well with the model. Although the chi-square was significant, (χ2 (df) = 962.43.12 (593), p < .01) due to the complexity of the model a better indication of model fit is represented by utilizing the three fit indices we discussed above. These three indices indicated a well fitting model (CFI = .943; IFI = .944; RMSEA = .032, 90% c.i. = .028–.036).

As can be seen in Table 3, most pathways in the model (Fig. 2) were significant at the p < .05 level or higher,

Discussion

Research reveals violence exposures are highest among low-income, African American youth who live in the inner city (Margolin & Gordis, 2000). Exposure to violence has been linked to a variety of undesirable outcomes including: anxiety, depression, PTSD, aggression, and poor educational achievement. In the current study, we focused on exposure to violence that occurs in the neighborhood and school, and found that student reports of increased parental support or involvement in school appear to

Acknowledgement

Special appreciation is expressed to Dr. Gary L. Bowen, School of Social Work, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who constructed the SSP datafile for research use that advances the science of youth development. Responsibility for the ethical use of these data, including their coding, analysis, and reporting, remain with user and do not necessarily reflect the advice, decisions, recommendations or agreement of either Dr. Bowen or other members of his research team at the

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