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Exposure to Violence and Posttraumatic Stress Among Youth in Public Housing: Do Community, Family, and Peers Matter?

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Abstract

This study examines the mediating roles of neighborhood risk factors, parental behaviors, and peers on the relationship between community violence exposure and posttraumatic stress in a sample of urban youth in low-income public housing communities. Data are from 320 African-American youth living in public housing in a northeastern city in the USA. Structural equation modeling was utilized to examine the stated relationships. Study results point to significant effects of violence exposure on posttraumatic stress in urban youth. While findings indicated indirect effects of neighborhood risk, parenting practices, and exposure to delinquent peers on posttraumatic stress, each of these paths operates through their relationship with violence exposure, with exposure to delinquent peers having the strongest mediating effect. Exposure to delinquent peers mediates the effects of neighborhood risks and parental behaviors on exposure to community violence, representing one potential intervention point to disrupt the deleterious effects of exposure to violence among youth. Our findings suggest interventions that address peer influence, and group norms may serve as protective factors against the risk of youth violence exposure. Overall, results highlight the co-occurring socioecological context of community violence exposure for youth living in public housing.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge our research team for their diligence at building rapport with our community partners, which established a solid foundation for our data collection. They were also critical in debriefing our community partners on the importance of their participation. We acknowledge Drs. Sharon Alston and Ajita Robinson for their leadership and for their unwavering commitment to this study. We would also like to acknowledge the faculty at the Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois, Chicago, for their assistance in developing the research protocol and their support throughout the IRB process. Finally, we would like to acknowledge the John D. and Katherine T. MacArthur Foundation for sponsoring this exploration. This research was presented at the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) 23rd Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA, January 16–20, 2019.

Funding

This work was made possible by the John D. and Katherine T. MacArthur Foundation, 40 S. Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL, 60603-5285; grant numbers 2010-0297; 2010–2013.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, 1 Brookings Dr., St. Louis, MO, 63130, USA

    Von Nebbitt, Kyle A. Pitzer & Andrew Foell

  2. School of Social Work, Boston College, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, McGuinn Hall, Chestnut Hill, MA, 02467, USA

    Margaret Lombe, Ngozi Enelamah & Yoosun Chu

  3. School of Social Work, Department of Public Health, University of Missouri, 720 Clark Hall, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA

    Mansoo Yu

  4. School of Social Work, Adelphi University, Social Work Building Room 309, One South Avenue, Garden City, NY, 11530, USA

    Chrisann Newransky

  5. Department of Psychology, Loyola University Chicago, 1032 W. Sheridan Road, Chicago, IL, 60660, USA

    Noni Gaylord-Harden

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The work described in this manuscript complies with ethical standards. The Institutional Review Board at the University of Illinois, Chicago, approved the research protocol, which included a Certificate of Confidentiality issued by the National Institutes of Health.

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Nebbitt, V., Lombe, M., Pitzer, K.A. et al. Exposure to Violence and Posttraumatic Stress Among Youth in Public Housing: Do Community, Family, and Peers Matter?. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 8, 264–274 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-020-00780-0

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