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Development and Risk Behavior Among African American, Caucasian, and Mixed‐race Adolescents Living in High Poverty Inner‐city Neighborhoods
Author(s) -
Bolland John M.,
Bryant Chalandra M.,
Lian Bradley E.,
McCallum Debra M.,
Vazsonyi Alexander T.,
Barth Joan M.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
american journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.113
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1573-2770
pISSN - 0091-0562
DOI - 10.1007/s10464-007-9132-1
Subject(s) - race (biology) , health psychology , poverty , psychology , african american , demography , youth risk behavior survey , public health , gerontology , suicide prevention , poison control , environmental health , medicine , sociology , political science , gender studies , ethnology , nursing , law
Youths growing up in low‐income inner‐city neighborhoods are at substantial risk for initiating substance use, violent behavior, and sexual intercourse at early ages; these risk behaviors continue at comparatively high rates through adolescence. Hopelessness has been implicated as a risk factor for these behaviors. In this paper, we consider how race influences this process. African Americans form a demographic minority within the United States, but they are often the majority within inner‐city neighborhoods. For Caucasians, the opposite typically holds. Mixed‐race populations form a minority within both contexts. Using longitudinal data, we examine the relationship between race and risk behaviors in several impoverished inner‐city neighborhoods where African Americans form the distinct majority and Caucasians and people of mixed racial heritage form a small minority. We also consider how race moderates the relationship between hopelessness and risk behavior. Our findings show that compared to Caucasian or mixed‐race adolescents, African American adolescents are less likely to engage in risk behaviors, and that hopelessness has a less important impact on their behaviors.