Structural and social determinants of inequities in violence risk: A review of indicators.

There is disproportionate risk for violence conditioned on inequities due to race, socioeconomic status, gender, and where people live. Consequently, some communities are more vulnerable to violence and its repercussions than other communities. This study aims to share indicators that might be useful for violence prevention researchers interested in measuring structural or social determinants that position communities for differential risk of experiencing violence. An existing database of indicators identified in a previous review was reassessed for measures of factors that shape community structures and conditions, which place people at risk for violence. Indicators of 86 community constructs are reported. These indicators may help to advance the field by offering innovative metrics that can be used to investigate further the structural and social determinants that serve as root causes of inequities in violence risk.

Practices for Improving Secondary School Climate: A Systematic Review of the Research Literature.

School climate has received increased attention in education policy and, in response, educators are seeking strategies to improve the climates of their middle and high schools. However, there has been no comprehensive synthesis of the empirical evidence for what works in school climate improvement. This article constitutes a systematic review of programs and practices with empirical support for improving school climate. It defines school climate and provides a methodology for identifying and evaluating relevant studies. The review identified 66 studies with varying strength of evidence and nine common elements that cut across reviewed programs and practices. The review concludes with a critical appraisal of what we know about school climate improvement and what we still need to know.

"Their help is not helping": Policing as a Tool of Structural Violence against Black Communities.

Objective: To illustrate Black youth's perceptions of police violence in West Louisville, Kentucky, how they make sense of it, and their responses to it. Method: The study used qualitative interviews with youth ages 10 to 24 residing in West Louisville. The interviews did not specifically inquire about experiences with police, but the theme emerged so strongly from the overall analysis that the current study was warranted. The research team employed a constructivist analytic approach. Results: The analysis yielded two overarching themes, each with several subthemes. The first theme was Black youth experience profiling and harassment by police, with subthemes focused on youth feeling targeted, youth recognizing policing as a tactic to remove them from their community, and youth being acutely aware of police-involved violence. The second theme was Black youth's experiences with the police cultivates mistrust and unsafety, with subthemes including police seen as more likely to harm than help, police not resolving injustices against Black people, and police presence escalating conflict in Black communities. Conclusions: Youth's narratives regarding their experiences with police highlight the physical and psychological violence enacted by police who come into their community, supported by the law enforcement and criminal justice systems. Youth recognize systemic racism in these systems and how it affects officers' perceptions of them. The long-term implications of persistent structural violence these youth endure has implications on their physical and mental health and wellbeing. Solutions must focus on transforming structures and systems.

Levels of community engagement in youth violence prevention: the role of power in sustaining successful university-community partnerships.

Previous research indicates that communities can be engaged at various levels in research to reduce youth violence. In this paper, we argue that the method of power sharing among partners is a central factor distinguishing different levels of engagement. Using cases from the Nashville Urban Partnership Academic Center of Excellence, we identify community initiation and community collaboration as distinct approaches to community engaged violence prevention research. The power relationships among partners are analyzed to highlight differences in the types of engagement and to discuss implications for establishing and sustaining community partnerships. Also, the implications of levels of engagement for promoting the use of evidence-based practices are discussed.

What works in prevention. Principles of effective prevention programs.

The high prevalence of drug abuse, delinquency, youth violence, and other youth problems creates a need to identify and disseminate effective prevention strategies. General principles gleaned from effective interventions may help prevention practitioners select, modify, or create more effective programs. Using a review-of-reviews approach across 4 areas (substance abuse, risky sexual behavior, school failure, and juvenile delinquency and violence), the authors identified 9 characteristics that were consistently associated with effective prevention programs: Programs were comprehensive, included varied teaching methods, provided sufficient dosage, were theory driven, provided opportunities for positive relationships, were appropriately timed, were socioculturally relevant, included outcome evaluation, and involved well-trained staff. This synthesis can inform the planning and implementation of problem-specific prevention interventions, provide a rationale for multi-problem prevention programs, and serve as a basis for further research.

The adolescents, life context, and school project: youth voice and civic participation.

The Adolescents, Life Context, & School project was developed in a suburban, residential area of Padova, Italy, and involved three classes of 12-year-old children. Across three months, children observed, documented, and talked about their own life contexts in order to voice problems to decision makers. Both teachers and council members played key roles in supporting the project and the children's work. Limited quantitative results showed an increase in reported neighborhood civic responsibility compared to a control group of students. Qualitative evaluation results demonstrated strong interest. The involvement by teachers, local government, and students in the project led to real actions and improvements in the neighborhood and school and to the creation of an official youth affairs council. The program provides a model for service-learning and organized student civic engagement.

A community-based participatory approach to youth development and school climate change: the alignment enhanced services project.

BACKGROUND: School-community partnerships offer an opportunity to promote positive youth development. However, there is a need for community-based participatory research (CBPR) models that leverage community and school resources to create environments that support youths' success. OBJECTIVE: Describe the CBPR process used by Alignment Enhanced Services (AES) partners to develop and implement a strategy to promote a positive school climate, and to discuss factors that influence the AES process in the schools. METHODS: A committee of school and community members developed the AES process, which included an environmental scan that solicited input from internal and external stake-holders on the schools' assets and needs related to youth development and school climate. AES coordinators, in consultation with school administrators, developed and implemented action plans that leveraged each school's existing strengths, while identifying and utilizing new resources to address systemic and individual needs. LESSONS LEARNED: To date, the project has produced encouraging results; however, the AES process resulted in numerous challenges for the coordinators, schools, and community partners. CONCLUSION: AES offers a method for engaging the stakeholders in addressing critical issues related to youth development and school climate.

Parenting and antisocial behavior: a model of the relationship between adolescent self-disclosure, parental closeness, parental control, and adolescent antisocial behavior.

This study used data collected from a sample of 840 Italian adolescents (418 boys; M age = 12.58) and their parents (657 mothers; M age = 43.78) to explore the relations between parenting, adolescent self-disclosure, and antisocial behavior. In the hypothesized model, parenting practices (e.g., parental monitoring and control) have direct effects on parental knowledge and antisocial behavior. Parenting style (e.g., parent-child closeness), on the other hand, is directly related to adolescent self-disclosure, which in turn is positively related to parental knowledge and negatively related to adolescents' antisocial behavior. A structural equation model, which incorporated data from parents and adolescents, largely supported the hypothesized model. Gender-specific models also found some gender differences among adolescents and parents, as the hypothesized model adequately fit the subsample of mothers but not fathers. Mothers' closeness to girls predicted their knowledge of their daughters' behavior; mothers' control predicted boys' antisocial behavior.

Risk factors for serious alcohol and drug use: the role of psychosocial variables in predicting the frequency of substance use among adolescents.

Reviews of the psychosocial risk factors of adolescent alcohol and drug use suggest that the highest risks can be summarized as: 1) psychological functioning, 2) family environment, 3) peer relationships, and 4) stressful life events. The purpose of this study is to describe the relationships among the most common risk factors among a clinical sample (n = 214) and to determine the collective importance of these risk factors on problems with substance use. Collectively, these risk factors were most effective in explaining alcohol use and binge drinking and marijuana use, which were the most frequent types of substance use in this sample. Antisocial peers and delinquent behavior were the strongest predictors of substance use. Implications are that treatment programs target different psychosocial factors depending on the substance being used, and put extra effort on understanding and altering the relationship between an adolescent's choice of peers and their own attitudes toward delinquency and drug use.