Citation

Rasmussen A, Aber MS, Bhana A. Am. J. Community Psychol. 2004; 33(1-2): 61-75.

Affiliation

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois 61820, USA. arasmuss@uiuc.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

15055755

Abstract

Neighborhood violence is a persistent source of danger, stress, and other adverse outcomes for urban youth. We examined how 140 African American and Latino adolescents coped with neighborhood danger in low, medium, and high crime neighborhoods throughout Chicago. Participants reported using a range of coping strategies (measured via a modified version of the Ways of Coping Scale; R. S. Lazarus & S. Folkman, 1984). In low and medium crime rate areas, using confrontive strategies was significantly correlated with increased exposure to violence, and no strategies were associated with perceptions of safety. Coping strategies were associated with perceived safety to a substantial degree only in high crime neighborhoods, and none were associated with exposure to violence. A k means cluster analysis identified groups that differed in coping profiles and varied in rates of exposure to violence. Moderating effects of gender, ethnicity, and neighborhood were found for both person level and variable level analyses.

Language: en