Adolescents' exposure to community violence and associations with after-school activities across two samples.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Exposure to community violence (ECV) continues to be a major public health problem among urban adolescents in the United States. We sought to identify subgroups of adolescents' ECV and examine how after-school activities are related to exposure subgroups across two samples. METHODS: In Study 1 there were 1432 adolescents (Cohort 9 n = 717, Mage = 11, and Cohort 12 n = 715, Mage = 14; 52% boys) from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (1994-2002). Study 2 had a more recent sample of 537 adolescents (Mage = 16 years; 54% girls) from the After-School Activity Study (ASAS; 2015-2017) in Chicago and Detroit. RESULTS: Exploratory latent class analyses yielded a three-class solution for Study 1 a "No ECV" class (44%); a "Low ECV" class (36%); and a "High Exposure" class (14%). In Study 2, a four-class solution was the best fit with a "No ECV" class (33%), a "Moderate Witness/Low Victim" class (36%), a "High Witness/Moderate Victim" class (19%), and a "High ECV" class (11%). Home-based activities appeared to be protective against high ECV for adolescents in Study 2. School-based activities were associated with higher ECV across both samples, but community-based activities were only associated with greater violence exposure in Study 1. Adolescents' unstructured socializing in both studies was associated with higher odds of ECV. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate that subgroups of adolescents can be identified based on ECV and highlight the complexity of after-school activities as risk and protective factors in both past and more recent contexts.