title: Exposure to community violence and social maladjustment among urban African American youth.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Because of the evidence that children living in inner city communities are chronically exposed to violence, the goal of the present study was to longitudinally explore the reciprocal and perpetuating relationship between exposure to violence and child social maladjustment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were 268 African American students (M age = 11.65 years, 40% males and 60% females) from six inner city Chicago public schools in high crime neighborhoods. Data was collected longitudinally over three years on measures of demographic information, exposure to community violence, and social adjustment. It was hypothesized that high levels of exposure to community violence, would be related to higher reports of social maladjustment (both cross-sectionally and longitudinally) and these variables would interact transactionally, leading to a greater risk of exposure to violence.
  
  
  RESULTS
  These hypotheses were tested using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and results revealed that exposure to community violence was not consistently linked to social maladjustment. Transactional results revealed that there are certain periods in development in which being more socially maladjusted may put a youth in risk for more exposure to violence.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results of the present study have important implications for interventions for inner-city youth exposed to violence.
authors.affiliation: Loyola University Chicago, USA. Electronic address: dcarey2@luc.edu.
authors.forename: Devin C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Carey
authors.affiliation: Loyola University Chicago, USA. Electronic address: mrichar@luc.edu.
authors.forename: Maryse H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Richards
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D002641:Chicago / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Adjustment; Adolescence; African-American; Community violence; Transactional