African American Adolescents Living and Coping with Community Violence in Chicago

Background and Purpose: This study explored community violence exposures (CVE) among African American adolescents and whether coping strategies were gendered. CVE has been defined as events in the local neighborhood involving crime, weapons use, and violence or potential violence perpetrated by persons outside the immediate family (Bell & Jenkins, 1993). CVE has been related to a number of problems experienced by ethnically diverse, urban adolescents. A growing body of literature has identified the factors that may protect youth from violence exposure or moderate the negative sequalea often associated with such exposures. However, while some research has documented that coping styles influence risk trajectories, there is a dearth of studies aimed at determining the ways that youth, especially African Americans, cope with violence in their communities

Method: This study utilized a grounded theory approach. Semi-structured, in-depth, one-on-one interviews were conducted with a sample of 31 African American high school students, 16 boys and 15 girls. Data were analyzed using a raw pattern analysis (Coffey & Atkinson, 1996), which entailed condensing raw data into a brief summary to establish links. We then used a thematic analysis to summarize segments of data into a smaller number of subsets, themes, and constructs. To strengthen analytic rigor, a working group was assembled to discuss the codes and the interpretation of the findings.

Results: The primary forms of violence exposures were physical attacks, fighting, incidents involving police, gun violence, and murders. Boys reported more exposure to violence as victims and witnesses whereas girls were more likely to hear about violent acts. There were four primary coping styles used by the participants: Acceptance, Self-Protection, Avoidance, and Confrontation. The most common strategy used across both the boys and girls was “Acceptance,” which included both a resignation to community conditions and trying to get out of the community through avenues such as doing well in school. “Self-Protection,” which included techniques such as being more careful about one's immediate surroundings, who you talk to, and what you say, was the second most commonly used strategy for both boys and girls. “Avoidance,” which included strategies such as avoiding certain places and staying indoors, was one of the most common strategies for girls, but not for boys. Conversely, a fourth strategy, “Confrontation,” was used solely by a small subset of the boys and consisted of coping strategies such as learning to fight or carrying weapons.

Conclusions and Implications: This study indicated that exposure to community violence was pervasive among the overall sample. There were several notable gender differences with regards to such exposures. The findings also highlighted unique ways that boys and girls engage strategies to cope with CVE. These findings have important clinical implications for African American adolescents. Intervention approaches need to move beyond simple screening measures and locating mental health services. Instead, widespread school based interventions and coordinated community initiatives that seek to improve the supervision of delinquent youth and help youth develop effective, individually-tailored coping strategies are warranted given the high prevalence of CVE.