Beyond the bell curve: Community disadvantage and the explanation of black-white differences in adolescent violence

被引:54
作者
Bellair, PE [1 ]
McNulty, TL
机构
[1] Ohio State Univ, Columbus, OH 43210 USA
[2] Univ Georgia, Athens, GA 30602 USA
关键词
racial differences; violence; violent crime; neighborhood effects; community context; contextual model;
D O I
10.1111/j.1745-9125.2005.00035.x
中图分类号
DF [法律]; D9 [法律];
学科分类号
0301 ;
摘要
Disproportionate involvement in violent behavior among African American, versus white, adolescents is a major arena of debate in the social sciences. The individual difference approach draws attention to verbal ability as an explanation of black-white differences in violence. Sociological theories stress variation in community and family socioeconomic disadvantage. We contrast these causal images of racial differences in serious violence using the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health and contextual modeling. Results indicate that verbal ability has an indirect effect on violence through school achievement, but does not account for the greater involvement in violence among black adolescents. The analysis is most consistent with a sociological model that views the race-violence link as a spurious outcome of community context.
引用
收藏
页码:1135 / 1168
页数:34
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