Prior research on anti-blackness in education demonstrates that Black bodies are marked as undesirable and therefore require exclusion, neglect, or mistreatment. Building on this research, I turn to geographical theories to understand the lived, everyday experiences of Black students who attended a predominately Latinx high school. Via visceral…

Community violence and its physical health consequences are well known among youth living in urban settings. However, less is known about the cumulative effect of contextual and demographic risk factors on posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) among vulnerable youth. Longitudinal data (baseline, 9-month, 21-month) were analyzed to investigate…

The purpose of this study was to analyze the narratives constructed by urban youth in a summer program for future educators of color. In particular, we asked, "In what ways do students use texts to create counternarratives of urban education?" Utilizing visual counternarratives and counterstorytelling as theoretical frames, and through…

For African American youth disproportionately exposed to community violence and the associated risk of externalizing behaviors, developmental assets that reduce the risk for externalizing behaviors and enhance adaptive coping should be explored. In a sample of 572 African American adolescents (M[subscript age] = 15.85; SD = 1.42), the current…

Community violence exposure is associated with increased depressive symptoms in adolescents. This study examined whether coping style moderates this relationship over time. Eighty-four low-income, urban adolescents (M[subscript age] = 13.36, 50% female, 95% African American) participated in two waves of a longitudinal study. Youth reported on…

Youth living in violent urban neighborhoods increasingly post messages online from urban street corners. The decline of the digital divide and the proliferation of social media platforms connect youth to peer communities who may share experiences with neighborhood stress and trauma. Social media can also be used for targeted retribution when…

For decades Hip Hop cultural practices have been disparaged for allegedly inciting and being responsible for the eruption of urban violence. This assumption, likely built upon pre-existing biases regarding the street culture and ethnic minorities where Hip Hop emerged, ignored how some of the genre's main elements -- particularly freestyle rap,…

Background: Youth violence reduction is a public health priority, yet few studies have examined secular trends in violence among urban youth, who may be particularly vulnerable to numerous forms of violence. This study examines 10-year secular trends in the prevalence of violence-related behaviors among Philadelphia high school students. Methods:…

Oftentimes, when people hear the term posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), they automatically associate this disorder with soldiers who are returning from combat. However, school psychologists and other mental health professionals know differently. PTSD is a disorder that is not just limited to those returning from war, but it is a disorder that…

While after-school programs are plentiful, they are often developed arbitrarily with little attention given to theoretical underpinnings that may inform program interventions. In this article, after-school programs are situated in resilience theory as protective factors, which encourage resilience among young Black males and other urban youth. The…

This paper aims to address cultural education as a method for creating a cooperative learning environment for Latino youth participants of a school-based gang and violence intervention program (GVIP). The data for this paper was collected during a 5-year longitudinal ethnographic research study conducted between 2009-2015 in California. In the…

Two waves of longitudinal data were used to examine the sequencing between violent victimization, violent behavior, and gun carrying in a high-poverty sample of African American youth. Multivariate logistic regression results indicated that violent victimization T1 and violent behavior T1 increased the likelihood of initiation of gun carrying T2…

Depression is a serious mental health concern among adolescents. Violence exposure is a potent risk factor for depression. Social support may help reduce depression risk, even when adolescents are exposed to violence. Using a compensatory model of resilience, we investigate the influence of violence exposure and social support on depression over…

Most studies to date have examined negative effects of exposure to community violence, in line with the deficit-based perspective. However, given that most youth exposed to community violence demonstrate positive adaptation or resilience over time, we suggest a shift in perspective, practices, and policies across systems toward identifying and…

Black and brown people are being murdered by police officers at an alarming rate, and nothing is being done about it.