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.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 230-249 |
Number of pages | 20 |
Journal | American Journal of Community Psychology |
Volume | 40 |
Issue number | 3-4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 2007 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Acknowledgements The research reported here was partially supported by the National Institutes of Health Office for Research on Minority Health through a cooperative agreement administered by the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (HD30060); by a grant from the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (TI13340); by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA017428); by a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CE000191); by the Cities of Mobile and Prichard; by the Mobile Housing Board; and by the Mobile County Health Department.
Keywords
- Adolescent risk behavior
- Development
- Hopelessness
- Minority status
- Race
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Health(social science)
- Applied Psychology
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health