Community Violence and Health Risk Factors Among Adolescents on Chicago's Southside: Does Gender Matter?
Received 27 June 2009; accepted 23 November 2009. published online 28 January 2010.
Abstract
We assessed community violence, school engagement, negative peer influences, mental health problems, and human immunodeficiency virus risk among 563 black adolescents. Boys reported higher rates of community violence exposures and gang involvement, while girls reported higher mental health distress. In the presence of multiple risk factors, negative peer norms were the strongest correlate of human immunodeficiency virus risk behaviors.
aSchool of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
bCenter for AIDS Prevention Studies, University of California, San Francisco, California
Address correspondence to: Dexter R. Voisin, Ph.D., School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago, 969 East 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637.
ABSTRACT