TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2016//
TI  - Behavioral health correlates of exposure to community violence among African-American adolescents in Chicago
JO  - Children and youth services review
A1  - Voisin, Dexter R.
A1  - Patel, Sadiq
A1  - Hong, Jun Sung
A1  - Takahashi, Lois
A1  - Gaylord-Harden, Noni
SP  - 97
EP  - 105
VL  - 69
IS  - 
N2  - Aims  Though public health researchers are more aware of behavioral health concerns among African American youth, few studies have explored how exposure to community violence may be related to adverse youth concerns. This study examines the relationship between exposure to community violence and mental health problems, substance use, school engagement, juvenile justice involvement, and STI risk behaviors.   Methods  A total of 638 African American adolescents living in predominantly low-income, urban communities participated in the study by completing self-report measures on exposure to community violence, mental health, school engagement proxies, substance use, delinquency markers and sexual risk behaviors.   Results  Adolescents who reported higher rates of exposure to community violence were significantly more likely to report poorer mental health, delinquent behaviors, a history of juvenile justice involvement, lower school bonding and student-teacher connectedness. These youth were also significantly more likely to use alcohol, cigarettes, and illicit substances, and engage in sexual risk behaviors.   Conclusions  Findings suggest that there is a critical need for culturally relevant prevention and intervention efforts for African American adolescents who are frequently exposed to community violence.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0190-7409
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.08.006
ID  - ref1
ER  -