When individuals are released from prison, they typically enter a period of post confinement community supervision. While under community supervision, their behaviors are subject to special conditions requiring them to report to supervisors and prohibiting certain behaviors such as drug and alcohol use. Many supervisees are returned to prison…

Although lockdown drills are a practice widely used in K-12 public schools across the United States to prepare students and staff to respond to acts of violence, research has only just begun to consider the impacts of these practices on those who participate in them. This study adds to the growing body of literature by examining the potential…

Mass shootings in schools raise important questions about how best to keep individuals safe and increase survivability in such situations. One of the most common techniques used is lockdown drills, which train individuals to build time and space between them and the threat. Despite their use in 95% of public K-12 schools nationwide, their efficacy…

This study examined how peer relationships contribute to young adolescents' adaptation in the face of exposure to community and family violence. It tested hypotheses about peers' role in processes relating exposure to behavioral and psychological outcomes, specifically, aggression and anxiety. Data were collected from 667 middle school students,…

Previous research suggests that social--cognitive factors mediate the association between social--environmental risk and aggression in high-risk samples, but less is known about the relation among these factors in suburban youth. The present study examined whether such an association occurred for suburban youth exposed to low levels of social…

Background: Early sex is associated with high-risk behaviors and outcomes, including sexual risk behaviors, forced sex, physical dating violence, and becoming pregnant or impregnating someone. Methods: Using 2005 and 2007 data from the New York City Youth Risk Behavior Survey (N = 17,220), this study examined the prevalence of early sex among…

Youth's perceptions of violence within their social environments can provide relevant insights into the gender-based interpersonal violence epidemic in inner-city communities. To explore this issue, we examined two sets of narratives with young men and women, aged 15 to 21, involved in hip-hop culture in New York City. In the analysis, we reveal…

Rape, sexual violence, psychological violence, and physical violence, among college students have been a concern. Lifetime events are often studied but not violence that specifically transpires while one is in college. Underrepresented groups such as Deaf and Hard of Hearing students, students who are gay, lesbian, and bisexual, and students who…

The present study examines the quality of peer relations as a mediator between exposure to IPV (intimate partner violence) and internalizing behaviors in a sample of 129 preadolescents and adolescents (ages 10-18), who were interviewed via telephone as part of a multigenerational, prospective, longitudinal study. Relational victimization is also…

This study examines the association between trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among 157 help-seeking children (aged 8-17). Structured clinical interviews are carried out, and linear and logistic regression analyses are conducted to examine the relationship between PTSD and type of trauma exposure controlling for age, gender,…

The role of aggression in adaptation to family and community violence was examined in a sample of 667 inner-city schoolchildren studied annually over three years in middle school. Regression analyses indicated that the association between Year 1 exposure to family and community violence and Year 2 aggression was mediated by aggression occurring…

Recent work on the relationship between adolescent violence and its outcomes has posited that aggression by adolescents who are exposed to violence can be viewed as an adaptive strategy that seeks to order dangerous and unpredictable environments. Using reports from 416 active violent youth, we analyze lifetime exposure to community violence and…

Intimate partner violence against women is a major public health and social problem. However, our understanding of how the geographic community or neighborhood influences its distribution is underdeveloped. In contrast, there is accumulating evidence that neighborhood characteristics, such as social cohesion and related neighborhood factors, are…

Few research studies have systematically categorized the types of torture experienced around the world. The purpose of this study is to categorize the diverse traumatic events that are defined as torture, and determine how these torture types relate to demographics and symptom presentation. Data for 325 individuals were obtained through a…

This empirical study investigated three mechanisms of protection (preventive, compensatory, buffering) for two factors (emotional social support, sense of personal control) in the relationship between exposure to community violence and psychological distress among 947 diverse, older adolescents. Findings indicate that social support and sense of…