This study explains racial/ethnic differences in serious adolescent violent behavior using a contextual model derived from prior urban, developmental, and criminological theory. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health, we compare involvement in serious violence among Asians, blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, and whites. Results indicate that statistical differences between whites and minority groups are explained by variation in community disadvantage (for blacks), involvement in gangs (for Hispanics), social bonds (for Native Americans), and situational variables (for Asians). The lesser involvement in violence among Asians compared to blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans is accounted for by similar factors. Differences in violent behavior among the latter three minority groups are not significant. Theoretical and policy implications of the findings are discussed.
Macrolevel research on the race-violence relationship has focused on the assumption of racial invariance in the effects of structural disadvantage measures on violence. Yet in most urban areas black and white disadvantage distributions only partially overlap, which precludes a critical empirical test of the assumption. I refer to this as the problem of "restricted distributions. Using block group data for Atlanta, results show that the effect of a disadvantage index on violence is similar in black and white neighborhoods within the low range of the disadvantage distribution, but diminishes significantly at the higher levels prevalent in black areas. I discuss the implications of the findings and suggest avenues for future research. * I thank Paul E. Bellair, E.M. Beck, and three anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments and suggestions.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. Oxford University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Social Forces.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.