Understanding the relationship between intergenerational mobility and community violence.

Violence is a key mechanism in the reproduction of community disadvantage. The existing evidence indicates that violence in a community impacts the intergenerational mobility of its residents. The current study explores the possibility of a reverse relationship. This study provisionally tests the hypothesis that depressed intergenerational mobility in a community may also spark subsequent community violence. We deploy a county measure of intergenerational mobility captured during early adulthood for a cohort of youth born between 1980 and 1986 and raised in low-income families [R. Chetty, N. Hendren, Quart. J. Econom. 133, 1163-1228 (2018)]. We model the relationship between county mobility scores and two county-level outcomes: violent crime and homicide. We find that a county's level of intergenerational mobility as measured by the Chetty-Hendren data is a major predictor of its rate of violent crime and homicide in 2008, when the youth in Chetty's mobility cohort were young adults (the same age the mobility measure was captured). In fact, mobility is a significantly stronger and more consistent predictor of community violent crime and homicide rates than more commonly used factors like poverty, inequality, unemployment, and law enforcement presence.

Blame Avoidance and Transgender Individuals' Attributions About Rape: Unpacking Gendered Assumptions in Defensive Attribution Research.

This research examines how binary gender (male or female) interacts with trans status (cis or trans) to determine rape myth acceptance (RMA), perceived similarity, victim empathy, and victim blaming. Utilizing vignette methodology with an acquaintance rape scenario with a heterosexual female victim, we analyze these variables using multivariate ordinary least squares (OLS) and ordered logit regression. We find support for the argument that both harm avoidance and blame avoidance are operating to predict similarity, empathy, and victim blaming experienced by cisgender and transgender individuals. We argue that this is based on in-group identification from both gender identity and perceived likelihood of future victimization. Specifically, we find that cisgender men have the lowest rates of perceived similarity. Transgender women have the highest rates of empathy whereas cisgender women and trans men have lower rates of victim blaming than cisgender men. Results suggest that the interaction between binary gender and trans status influence perceptions of rape myths and victimization.

The Interaction Between Observer Sex and Sexual Identity on Attributions of Blame With a Heterosexual Female Victim.

This article examines the difference in blame attribution between men and women, heterosexuals and homosexuals, and heterosexual males, heterosexual females, gay males, and lesbians in response to a vignette depicting the acquaintance rape of a heterosexual female (n = 177). While the levels of empathy for the victim and blaming of the perpetrator were high for every group and blaming of the victim and rape myth acceptance were low for every group, some important trends emerged. Consistent with previous research, women reported higher rates of empathy for the victim, lower rape myth acceptance, and lower victim blaming than did men. Men and homosexuals had higher rates of victim blaming and were more likely to excuse the perpetrator's behavior than were women and heterosexuals, respectively. Lesbians had various patterns where they were at times more similar to heterosexual males (e.g., how much they blamed the perpetrator) or heterosexual females (e.g. in terms of empathy levels). They were consistently different from gay males. Further, the majority of differences were attributed to gay males, who had the highest levels of victim blaming and empathy for the perpetrator, were the most likely to excuse the perpetrator's behavior, and had the highest rate of rape myth acceptance of all of the groups. We conclude that sex and sexual identity interact to shape attributions about rape and discuss avenues for future research to explore these patterns.