Child Abuse, Sexual Assault, Community Violence and High School Graduation

Abstract

Researchers from a range of disciplines have conducted studies to identify why one in five persons in the United States fails to complete high school. Our research contributes to this literature by exploring the link between violence victimization as a youth on subsequently dropping out of high school and years of schooling completed. This pathway has largely been neglected in prior studies, although about a third of all women and men report being the victim of violence prior to the age of 16. Using data drawn from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R) and the National Survey of American Life (NSAL), our analysis reveals that females and males who are the victims violence are more likely to drop out of high school relative to their peers who report that they never were the victims of violence. In addition, these negative effects appear to be driven by the effect of home violence for both genders while men also experience negative effects from community violence.

Psychological evaluation of children victims of sexual abuse: development of a protocol

“…Among the most common practices are compelling sex or pornography, masturbating in public, posing erotically for photos and movies, performing sexual touches and caresses, and engaging in genital, anal and oral sex (Matos et al, 2018). Child sexual abuse presents itself as a continuous epidemic phenomenon and its occurrence is independent of culture and society, affecting a significant number of children and adolescents throughout the world, in most cases with serious consequences for the physical and mental health of the victims and causing school dropout Shrivastava et al (2017); Diette et al (2017); Clayton et al (2018).…”

Experiences and Strategies of Young, Low-Income, African-American Men and Families Who Navigate Violent Neighborhoods and Low-Performing Schools

“…Low-income, young, African-American men suffer disproportionately from both higher levels of exposure to neighborhood violence and lower rates of well-being [1][2][3], which encompasses multiple dimensions, including physical safety, mental health, and academic outcomes. Specifically, neighborhood violence predicts both lower levels of high school graduation and poorer mental health [1,3].…”

“…The negative effect of neighborhood violence and victimization on the high-school graduation rates is both concentrated and cumulative; and it is greater for men, but also has a school level effect [2][3][4][5][6]. Neighborhood violence is concentrated in disadvantaged neighborhoods [2], and the longer youth live in a disadvantaged neighborhood, the more likely it is that they will drop out of high school, particularly African-American youth [4].…”

“…Additionally, neighborhood violence mediates the relationship between disadvantage and the probability of high school dropout [5]. In 2017, Diette found that exposure to violence in both male and female children between the ages of 1 and 15 significantly increased the likelihood of dropout, but male children were more likely to be exposed to community violence than female children [3]. Finally, Burdick-Wills found that peer exposure to neighborhood violent crime was negatively correlated with individual academic achievement, with the whole school reporting feeling less safe, more discipline problems, and less trust in teachers [6].…”

“…As violent neighborhoods and low-performing schools further concentrate on young, low-income, African-American men, there are questions about how unsafe environments shape young men's well-being. There is a growing body of work on the relationship between neighborhood violence and high school dropout in low-performing schools, and the disproportionate impact on young, low-income, African-American men [1][2][3][4][5][6]. In comparison, less is known about the varied lived experiences and strategies of young African-American men and their families who navigate both violent neighborhoods and schools with high dropout rates.…”