Putting youth violent victimization into context: sex, race/ethnicity, and community differences among a multisite sample of youths.
The increased risk of violent victimization for adolescents relative to other age groups has recently become a major public health concern. The current study uses data from a multisite study of eighth grade youths attending public schools in 11 cities to determine the extent and nature of youth general and serious violent victimization among both sexes and five racial/ethnic groups in 11 diverse communities. This study explores differences in sex, race/ethnicity, and community independently and explores interactions between sex and community and race/ethnicity and community. Our findings suggest important differences in victimization prevalence and individual victimization rates by sex and community of residence. Racial differences were found to be closely tied to community. Policy implications resulting from our findings are discussed.
Taylor
Terrance J
TJ
Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice, University of Missouri, St. Louis 63121-4400, USA. taylortj@umsl.edu
Esbensen
Finn-Aage
FA
Peterson
Dana
D
Freng
Adrienne
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000208:ethnology*; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012938:Social Perception; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014754:Violence / Q000208:ethnology*