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Research has demonstrated that exposure to violence can result in many negative consequences for youth, but the degree to which neighborhood conditions may foster resiliency among victims is not well understood. This study tests the hypothesis that neighborhood collective efficacy attenuates the relationship between adolescent exposure to violence, substance use, and violence. Data were collected from 1,661 to 1,718 adolescents participating in the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, who were diverse in terms of sex (51 % male, 49 % female), race/ethnicity (48 % Hispanic, 34 % African American, 14 % Caucasian, and 4 % other race/ethnicity), and age (mean age 12 years; range 8–16). Information on neighborhood collective efficacy was obtained from adult residents, and data from the 1990 US. Census were used to control for neighborhood disadvantage. Based on hierarchical modeling techniques to adjust for the clustered data, Bernoulli models indicated that more exposure to violence was associated with a greater likelihood of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use and perpetration of violence. Poisson models suggested that victimization was also related to a greater variety of substance use and violent behaviors. A moderating effect of collective efficacy was found in models assessing the variety of substance use; the relationship between victimization and substance use was weaker for youth in neighborhoods with higher versus lower levels of collective efficacy. These findings are consistent with literature indicating that social support can ameliorate the negative impact of victimization. This investigation extends this research to show that neighborhood social support can also help to promote resiliency among adolescents.

Sexual victimization, defined as non-contact unwanted sexual experiences (e.g., sexual harassment), unwanted sexual contact, sexual coercion, forcible rape, or alcohol- or drug-facilitated assault or rape, is nontrivial among the college study population. This study explores how the situational contexts, which include self-reported consequences and responses to victimization, compare between incidents of non-contact sexual harassment (SH) and contact sexual victimization (CSV) (e.g., unwanted sexual contact, sexual coercion, and rape). Conjunctive analyses compare the commonality and variation among situational contexts of incidents of SH and incidents of CSV from a sample of survivors from 24 different colleges. Both forms of sexual violence negatively impact college students. Respondents who experienced SH only (i.e., did not also experience CSV) in the past year and those who experienced contact CSV only (i.e., did not also experience non-contact SH) in the past year both reported negative outcomes associated with the victimization, but it was more common for survivors of SH only to report being intimidated and feeling uncomfortable in their environment at the college. The implications of this study are twofold. First, scholars should ensure that research on the negative effects of CSV does not come at the expense of other forms of sexual victimization. Second, practitioners, campus services, and prevention programs should acknowledge both contact and non-contact sexual victimization in programming and services in order to buffer the negative effects resulting from victimization.

A nontrivial percentage of men and women report being stalked in their lifetime, and many of these experiences were perpetrated by a current or former intimate partner. This study seeks to better understand the situational contexts of this social phenomenon among a high-risk population - college students - and explores how elements of the situational context of intimate partner stalking relate to police notification.Using data from college students attending 24 universities in the United States, logistic regression analyses are supplemented with conjunctive analyses of case configurations (CACC), which allow for the construction of situational contexts of intimate partner stalking and a comparison of contexts that are and are not reported to the police.Overall, police notification for intimate partner stalking is low (6%). Logistic regression analyses revealed that multiple types of stalking victimization and interference with activities are related to an increased likelihood of police notification. CACC indicated that the relevance of interference with activities is dependent upon self-reporting that the victimization resulted in an intimidating environment. Furthermore, multiple types of stalking victimizations and co-occurring victimizations (i.e., physical violence, sexual violence, and coercive control) are related to police notification if the victim also reports interference with activities and an intimidating environment. These relationships are driven by White, non-Hispanic women who live off-campus.Our dual analytical approach highlights the complementary use of traditional regression methods and CACC. These results provide insight for efforts to assist victims of intimate partner stalking in order to encourage police notification.

Research on intimate partner violence (IPV) and victimization is widespread across disciplines. To date, the majority of research underscores the importance of individual-level factors to explain IPV, thereby neglecting the significance of macro-level elements. Nevertheless, research suggests that the characteristics of the neighborhood where an individual lives are important for fully understanding IPV. This review focuses on the effects of neighborhoods and macro-level context on violence between intimate partners, specifically identifying empirical studies that have examined contextual predictors of IPV utilizing the major tenets of social disorganization theory. The authors note consistencies and differences across research results and describe study features that may influence the patterns of these findings. Finally, the authors provide both theoretical and methodological recommendations for future research.

This study examines the direct effects of neighborhood supportive mechanisms (e.g., collective efficacy, social cohesion, social networks) on depressive symptoms among females as well as their moderating effects on the impact of IPV on subsequent depressive symptoms. A multilevel, multivariate Rasch model was used with data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods to assess the existence of IPV and later susceptibility of depressive symptoms among 2959 adult females in 80 neighborhoods. Results indicate that neighborhood collective efficacy, social cohesion, social interactions, and the number of friends and family in the neighborhood reduce the likelihood that females experience depressive symptoms. However, living in areas with high proportions of friends and relatives exacerbates the impact of IPV on females’ subsequent depressive symptoms. The findings indicate that neighborhood supportive mechanisms impact interpersonal outcomes in both direct and moderating ways, although direct effects were more pronounced for depression than moderating effects. Future research should continue to examine the positive and potentially mitigating influences of neighborhoods in order to better understand for whom and under which circumstances violent relationships and mental health are influenced by contextual factors.

Marijuana is the most prevalent illicit drug used by adolescents and young adults, yet marijuana initiation is rarely studied past adolescence. The present study sought to advance our understanding of parent and peer influences on marijuana exposure opportunity and incident use during college. A sample of 1,253 students was assessed annually for 4 years starting with the summer prior to college entry. More than one-third (38% wt ) of students had already used marijuana at least once prior to college entry; another 25% wt initiated use after starting college. Of the 360 students who did not use marijuana prior to college, 74% were offered marijuana during college; of these individuals, 54% initiated marijuana use. Both low levels of parental monitoring during the last year of high school and a high percentage of marijuana-using peers independently predicted marijuana exposure opportunity during college, holding constant demographics and other factors ( AOR  = 0.92, 95% CI  = 0.88–0.96, p  < .001 and AOR  = 1.11, 95% CI  = 1.08–1.14, p  < .001, respectively). Among individuals with exposure opportunity, peer marijuana use ( AOR  = 1.04, 95% CI  = 1.03–1.05, p  < .001), but not parental monitoring, was associated with marijuana initiation. Results underscore that peer influences operate well into late adolescence and young adulthood and thus suggest the need for innovative peer-focused prevention strategies. Parental monitoring during high school appears to influence exposure opportunity in college; thus, parents should be encouraged to sustain rule-setting and communication about adolescent activities and friend selection throughout high school.

Our commentary responds to claims made by DiMarco and colleagues in an article published in this journal that the majority of victims of rape are men and that 80% of those who rape men are women. Although we strongly believe that studying male sexual victimization is a highly important research and policy endeavour, we have concerns with the approach taken by DiMarco and colleagues to discuss these incidents. Specifically, we critique their paper by addressing the definitions of rape used by the authors, questioning their interpretation of national victim surveys, evaluating their analysis of the underreporting of male rape, and highlighting the heteronormative framework they use to outline the landscape of male sexual victimization. With this commentary, we call for a holistic, nuanced, and balanced study of male sexual victimization that recognizes the reality of both female-on-male and male-on-male violence, the experiences of survivors, and multi-layered barriers that male victims often encounter.

To date, research exploring gender differences in the relationship between exposure to community violence and substance use has been limited. This study employs longitudinal data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) to assess the exposure to violence-substance use relationship and explore whether this relationship varies by gender. We find that the two forms of exposure to violence-direct (primary) and indirect (secondary)-independently increase the frequency of subsequent alcohol use, binge drinking, and marijuana use among males and females. One gender difference emerged, as females who had been directly victimized engaged in more frequent binge drinking than males who had been directly victimized. Across both sexes, the effect of each form of violence weakened when other predictors of substance use were included in the models. Future directions for this research are discussed, including policy recommendations to help adolescents cope with victimization experiences.

Although social disorganization theory hypothesizes that neighborhood characteristics influence youth delinquency, the impact of neighborhood disadvantage on adolescent substance use and racial/ethnic differences in this relationship have not been widely investigated. The present study examines these issues using longitudinal data from 1,856 African American, Hispanic, and Caucasian adolescents participating in the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN). The results indicated that neighborhood disadvantage did not significantly increase the likelihood of substance use for the full sample. When relationships were analyzed by race/ethnicity, one significant (p ≤ .10) effect was found; disadvantage increased alcohol use among African Americans only. The size of this effect differed significantly between African American and Hispanic youth. In no other cases did race/ethnicity moderate the impact of disadvantage on substance use. These results suggest that disadvantage is not a strong predictor of adolescent substance use, although other features of the neighborhood may affect such behaviors.

Objective: Report the distribution of scores from the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS) and estimate the prevalence of self-reported attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms as compared to clinical diagnoses. Participants: Participants were 1,080 college students, divided into 3 groups: (1) no ADHD diagnosis (n = 972), (2) diagnosed with ADHD but no current pharmacologic treatment (n = 54), and (3) diagnosed with ADHD with current pharmacologic treatment (n = 54). Methods: The ASRS was administered during the fourth annual interview of an ongoing longitudinal cohort study. Results: As expected, individuals who were never clinically diagnosed with ADHD had lower ASRS scores (M = 4.0, SD = 3.3) than individuals diagnosed with ADHD who were either under current pharmacologic treatment (M = 7.9, SD = 4.0) or not under treatment (M = 6.3, SD = 3.7). Overall, 10.3% wt of individuals without an existing clinical diagnosis of ADHD had high levels of ADHD symptoms. Conclusions: A substantial minority of undiagnosed individuals may benefit from a clinical assessment for ADHD.