title: Urban African American Parents' Messages about Violence: A Mixed Methods Study.
abstract: Family socialization, which includes parental control and support, plays an important role in reducing the likelihood of adolescent involvement in conflict. This study examined the strategies that urban parents living in neighborhoods with high crime rates suggest to help their adolescent children avoid or deescalate conflict. Data come from 48 African American parent/adolescent dyads recruited through the youths' middle school. Dyads responded to three video-taped scenarios depicting youth in potential conflict situations. Qualitative methods were used to identify 11 strategies parents suggested to help youth avoid or deescalate conflict. Although the majority of parents advocated for non-violent solutions, these same parents described situations in which their child may need to use violence. These findings have important implications for family-focused violence prevention programs.
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lindstrom Johnson
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland.
authors.forename: Nadine
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Finigan
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bradshaw
authors.affiliation: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Development.
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Haynie
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Tina L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Cheng
keywords: Adolescence; African Americans; Parent/youth communication; Parenting; Violence