Race, Ethnicity, and Adolescent Violent Victimization

The risk of adolescent violent victimization in the United States varies considerably across racial and ethnic populations; it is unknown whether the sources of risk also vary by race and ethnicity. 

This study examined the correlates of violent victimization for White, Black, and Hispanic youth. Data collected from 11,070 adolescents (51 % female, mean age = 15.04 years) during the first two waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health were used to estimate group-specific multilevel logistic regression models. 

The results indicate that male, violent offending, peer deviance, gang membership, and low self-control were significantly associated with increased odds of violent victimization for all groups. Some activities-including getting drunk, sneaking out, and unstructured socializing with peers-were risk factors for Black adolescents only; skipping school was a risk factor only for Hispanic adolescents. 

Although there are many similarities across groups, the findings suggest that minority adolescents are particularly vulnerable to violent victimization when they engage in some activities and minor forms of delinquency.

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By:  Tillyer MS1, Tillyer R2.

• 1Department of Criminal Justice, University of Texas at San Antonio (http://copp.utsa.edu/department/category/criminal-justice/), 501 W. Cesar E. Chavez Blvd., San Antonio, TX, 78207, USA. Marie.Tillyer@utsa.edu.
• 2Department of Criminal Justice, University of Texas at San Antonio, 501 W. Cesar E. Chavez Blvd., San Antonio, TX, 78207, USA. Rob.Tillyer@utsa.edu. 
• J Youth Adolesc. 2016 Jan 14.

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Sleep and Substance Use among US Adolescents, 1991-2014

OBJECTIVES:

To examine associations between sleep and alcohol, amphetamine, cigarette, marijuana, and non-heroin narcotic use among US middle and high school students, trends in associations over time, and the comparative impact of select covariates on association strength.

METHODS:

Data from the 1991-2014 nationally representative Monitoring the Future study of 8(th)-, 10(th)-, and 12(th)-grade US students were used to estimate standardized correlations between the frequency of getting at least 7 hours of sleep (7+ sleep) and substance use frequency while simultaneously regressing both outcomes on key covariate domains.

RESULTS:

As 7+ sleep frequency increased, substance use frequency significantly decreased and vice versa. Overall, association strength was inversely associated with grade. Associations were generally modest, varied across substances, and weakened over the historical period examined for 8(th)- and 10(th)- graders. Associations showed little variance by sex and racial/ethnic subgroups. Controlling for deviance, psychosocial and general health covariates significantly attenuated association strength.

CONCLUSIONS:

Among US secondary students, 7+ sleep/substance use associations were largely explained by individual deviance, psychosocial, and general health characteristics. Awareness and exploitation of these shared associations may be useful in improving substance use prevention and/or treatment efforts.

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By:   Terry-McElrath YM1, Maslowsky J2, O'Malley PM3, Schulenberg JE3, Johnston LD3.

• 1Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. yterry@umich.edu.
• 2Department of Kinesiology and Health Education and Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
• 3Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. 

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'Whiteness,'criminality, and the double standards of deviance/social control

White criminality is increasingly defined and controlled via the medical model. This is made possible by the white racial frame, which constructs ‘whiteness’ as normative and white deviance as individual aberration or mental illness. 

Conversely, the white racial frame constructs Blackness as synonymous with criminality. Media depictions of crime and criminals play a central role in furthering this framing, which provides the underlying legitimation for disparities in social control. The result is double standards of definition and control which medicalize whiteness and criminalize Blackness. This differential framing of whiteness and Blackness provides the foundation for the expansion of both the medical and prison industrial complexes, which are characterized by real racial differences despite comparable patterns of deviance across racial lines.

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By:   Nancy A. Heitzeg^a*

• ^a Sociology and Critical Studies of Race and Ethnicity, St Catherine University, St. Paul, MN, USA

 

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Differences in Sensitivity to Deviance Partly Explain Ideological Divides in Social Policy Support

We propose that political differences in social policy support may be partly driven by the tendency for conservatives to show greater sensitivity to deviance than liberals, even among targets lacking social or functional relevance. 

In 3 studies, participants were shown geometric figures and were asked to identify the extent to which they were "triangles" (or circles, squares, etc.). More conservative participants reported greater differentiation between perfect and imperfect shapes than more liberal participants, indicating greater sensitivity to deviance. 

Moreover, shape differentiation partly accounted for the relationship between political ideology and social policy, partially mediating the link between conservatism and harsher punishment of wrongdoers (Studies 1 and 4), less support for public aid for disadvantaged groups (Study 2), and less financial backing for policies that benefit marginalized groups in society (Study 3). This effect was specific to policies that targeted deviant groups (Study 3) and who were not too highly deviant (Study 4). 

Results suggest that, in addition to commonly cited affective and motivational reactions to deviant actors, political differences in social policy may also be driven by conservatives' greater cognitive propensity to distinguish deviance.

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By:  Okimoto TG, Gromet DM.

 

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Exposure to Peer Deviance During Childhood & Risk for Drug Abuse: A Swedish National Co-Relative Control Study

Peer deviance (PD) is associated with risk for drug abuse (DA). Is this association causal?

DA was recorded in official records. PD was defined as the percentage of peers residing in small communities with future DA registrations. We examined offspring in families whose community PD changed when the offspring was 0-15 years of age and then examined families where cousins or siblings differed in their years of exposure to low or high PD communities.

The duration of exposure to PD was strongly associated with future DA. Co-relative analyses for families whose exposure to PD declined suggested that the PD-DA association was largely non-causal. Within full-sibling pairs in such families, the length of exposure to low PD environments was unrelated to risk for DA. By contrast, co-relative analyses in families where exposure to PD increased over time indicated that the PD-DA association was largely causal. In such families, siblings who differed in the duration of their exposure to high PD differed in their risk for subsequent DA. These results were replicated in families whose PD changed because they moved or because of changes in the community in which they resided.

Within families whose social environment is improving over time, the association between PD exposure and offspring DA outcomes is not causal but is due to familial confounding. Within families whose social environment is deteriorating, the PD-DA association seems to be largely causal. Our measure of PD may also reflect broader aspects of the community environment beyond peers.

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By:  Kendler KS1, Ohlsson H2, Mezuk B1, Sundquist K2, Sundquist J2.

• 1Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University,Richmond,VA,USA.
• 2Center for Primary Health Care Research,Lund University,Malmö,Sweden. 

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Being Well-Liked Predicts Increased Use of Alcohol But Not Tobacco in Early Adolescence

Although substance use has traditionally been linked to peer deviance, a parallel literature has explored the influence of peer social status (being "well-liked"). This literature hypothesizes that adolescents with higher status will anticipate shifts in social norms and modify their behavior earlier and/or more substantially than lower-status students. 

As substance use becomes more socially acceptable during early-to-mid-adolescence, higher status youth are hypothesized to reflect this shift in norms by accelerating their use more rapidly than lower status youth. Although some evidence exists to support this hypothesis, it has never been evaluated in conjunction with the opposing hypothesis (i.e., that substance use contributes to elevated peer status). 

In this study, we evaluated reciprocal links between peer status and substance use (i.e., alcohol and tobacco) using 3 years of data from 8 middle schools in the Pacific Northwest. Social network analysis enabled us to model standard network effects along with unique effects for the influence of the network on behavior (i.e., increased substance use as a result of being well-liked) and the influence of behavior on the network (i.e., increased status as a result of substance use). 

Our results indicated significant bidirectional effects for alcohol use but no significant effects for tobacco use. In other words, being well-liked significantly predicted alcohol use and vice versa, but these processes were not significant for tobacco use. 

Prevention efforts should consider the dynamics of peer status and peer norms in adolescence with the goal of preventing escalations in problem behavior that can compromise future adjustment.

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By: Van Ryzin MJ1, DeLay D2, Dishion TJ2.

• 1Oregon Research Institute, 1776 Millrace Drive, Eugene, OR 97403, USA. Electronic address: markv@ori.org.
• 2Arizona State University, P.O. Box 871104, Tempe, AZ 85287-1104, USA. 

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