Is Delinquency Associated With Subsequent Victimization by Community Violence in Adolescents? A Test of the Risky Behavior Model in a Primarily African American Sample.

Abstract

Victimization is common in adolescence and is associated with negative outcomes, including school failure, and poor emotional, behavioral, and physical health. A deeper understanding of the risk of victimization can inform prevention and intervention efforts. This study tests the risky behavior model in adolescents, examining prospective associations between mean levels of and changes in delinquency and risk for victimization over four annual data collections. Low-income adolescent (53.6% female; M age = 12.13 years, SD = 1.62 years; 91.9% African American) and maternal caregiver dyads (N = 358) residing in urban neighborhoods in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States that had moderate-to-high levels of violence and/or poverty completed separate annual home interviews for 4 years. Maternal caregivers reported on adolescents' delinquent behavior; adolescents reported on their victimization by community violence experiences. Using a latent difference score model, results supported the risky behavior model for the first 2 years, but not the final data collection period. That is, levels of and changes in delinquent behavior were associated with more victimization by community violence at the subsequent time point for the first 2 study years. In contrast, there was no evidence for the opposite, specifically that victimization by community violence predicted delinquency. Knowing that both levels of delinquency and increases in delinquency place youth at heightened risk for victimization by community violence provides impetus to intervene. Screening for increases in delinquency among youth may be one way to target youth at high risk for victimization by community violence for fast-tracked intervention.