Effects of Community Violence, Discrimination and Racial Identity on African-American Juvenile Delinquency

Background and Purpose

 

Persistent overrepresentation of African American youth in criminal justice system in the United States is disconcerting. Although multifarious (individual, family, community, structural) factors are associated with delinquency in youth of all races, it is not clear what contributes to the racial disproportionality. This paper explores two possible contributing factors to juvenile delinquency of African American youth: community violence and racial discrimination experience. In the same model we also explore one possible protective factor, racial identity.

It is estimated that over 50% of urban youth have witnessed community violence. Community violence exposure has been linked to negative outcomes including post-traumatic stress reactions, aggression, and violent behaviors in African American youth. Similarly, experiences of racial discrimination has been linked to negative outcomes including aggression, violence, and delinquency in African American youth. Specifically, Prelow et al.’s (2004) and Martin et al.’s (2010) findings indicated that not only were the effects of perceived racial discrimination a direct contributor to delinquency and a mediator between neighborhood conditions and offending in African American youth, but they also exceeded the effects of ecological and neighborhood factors. 

Racial identity has been recognized as a protective factor against negative consequences of experiencing racial discrimination such as violence, negative self-concept, and diminished school achievement in African American youth in community settings. However, because there are several components in racial identity, understanding the effects of each property can be confounding. Building on Caldwell et al.’s (2004) study, one specific aspect of racial identity, racial centrality, is examined in this paper.  Also, because possible protective function of racial identity against delinquency is under-researched in incarcerated African American youth, this paper examines the effects of community violence, racial discrimination experience, and racial identity on juvenile delinquency in incarcerated African American male adolescents.

Method

A subsample of 189 African American adolescent males who were adjudicated for juvenile delinquency was selected from a larger dataset (n = 349) that was collected from 3 institutions of incarcerated youth in a Midwestern state. The Self Reported Delinquency survey was used to assess delinquency. The Spencer Discrimination scale was used to assess racial discrimination experience.  Racial identity was measured on two items that were consistent with the racial centrality property in Caldwell et al.’s study.  We first analyzed correlations between community violence, racial discrimination experience, racial identity, and delinquency. Next, we used hierarchical regression to assess the contributions of each factor.

Results

Consistent with earlier findings, both community violence and racial discrimination experience were positively correlated, while racial identity was negatively correlated, with juvenile delinquency. In the regression, racial identity mitigated the effects of racial discrimination on delinquency. It was also a protective factor against delinquency when both community violence and racial discrimination were experienced. 

Implications

The combined effect of community violence and racial discrimination on delinquency in African American youth is examined. Implications for social work intervention and prevention practices, such as incorporating strategies to foster racial centrality into extant evidence-based interventions and promising intervention strategies for incarcerated African American young men are delineated.