Citation

Bolland JM, Bryant CM, Lian BE, McCallum DM, Vazsonyi AT, Barth JM. Am. J. Community Psychol. 2007; 40(3-4): 230-249.

Affiliation

Department of Health Behavior, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1530 3rd Avenue South, Birmingham, AL 45294-0022, USA. bollandj@uab.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1007/s10464-007-9132-1

PMID

17932741

Abstract

Youths growing up in low-income inner-city neighborhoods are at substantial risk for initiating substance use, violent behavior, and sexual intercourse at early ages; these risk behaviors continue at comparatively high rates through adolescence. Hopelessness has been implicated as a risk factor for these behaviors. In this paper, we consider how race influences this process. African Americans form a demographic minority within the United States, but they are often the majority within inner-city neighborhoods. For Caucasians, the opposite typically holds. Mixed-race populations form a minority within both contexts. Using longitudinal data, we examine the relationship between race and risk behaviors in several impoverished inner-city neighborhoods where African Americans form the distinct majority and Caucasians and people of mixed racial heritage form a small minority. We also consider how race moderates the relationship between hopelessness and risk behavior. Our findings show that compared to Caucasian or mixed-race adolescents, African American adolescents are less likely to engage in risk behaviors, and that hopelessness has a less important impact on their behaviors.

Language: en