The involvement of African American youth in urban violence (nondomestic violence in an urban setting) was studied through a review of literature in the field of psychology. Articles that dealt with African American children and adolescents who have been exposed to or who have experienced this type of violence were selected from journals published by the American Psychological Association (APA) and others. Thirty-seven journals published by the APA were reviewed. Of these, 12 journals had published articles on violence or aggression in the period from 1989 through 1994, with 7 articles specifically addressing African American youth and their involvement in urban violence and 23 articles addressed urban violence in general. A similar search of psychological journals not published by the APA reviewed 148 articles related to African American youth violence, of which 53 were empirical studies. The bulk of studies focused on the individual and were concerned with victims of violence. Relatively few studies moved beyond a focus on the individual. Psychologists must explore (or at least incorporate into their analyses) a study of the environmental conditions and sociopolitical factors that contribute to the problem of youth violence. A bibliography lists the 148 articles reviewed. (Contains 5 tables and 12 references.) (SLD)