Howard Pinderhughes

Finding Common Ground in the Study of Child Maltreatment, Youth Violence, and Adult Domestic Violence

For several decades, we have witnessed a surge in public policies aimed at ending child maltreatment, youth violence, and adult domestic violence. Commensurate with this increased interest has been a growing body of research on each issue’s etiology, affected population, and the public policy and prevention impacts. Even a cursory review of the literature suggests a number of commonalities across these forms of violence. As such, it seems timely and prudent to craft a research framework that facilitates the identification and dissemination of practice and policy innovations that can address all three concerns. This article articulates an overarching framework to guide researchers in better identifying common avenues of study. After summarizing the commonalities found across the three areas, the authors identify crosscutting issues that have particular relevance for advancing our understanding of violence and its effects on personal and social interactions.

Violence and gender: reports from an urban high school

This article reports on the survey component of a study examining urban high school students’ experiences with violence. The survey’s purpose was to collect information on students’ experiences with violence, explore gender differences, and identify which factors are associated with the self-reported use of violence. Two prominent risk factors for the self-reported use of violence were found: having a close friend or family member injured by violence, and gun possession. Young men and women did not differ significantly in overall exposure, victimization, and perpetration. However, gender clearly informed the types of violence reported. The findings offer practical strategies for addressing adolescent violence, such as reducing gun availability and community-level violence, but future research must further examine the role of gender in order to structure more effective prevention and intervention approaches that target different kinds of violence.

Choosing Fatherhood: How Teens in the Justice System Embrace or Reject a Father Identity

The purpose of this qualitative study was to further the understanding of father identity and role development among adolescents involved in the justice system. Youth who were expecting a child or parenting an infant and who were incarcerated, arrested, or had admitted to criminal behavior participated in interviews and observations in a juvenile detention center and in the community. Data analysis revealed 4 patterns of fathering intentions: (a) embracing fatherhood, (b) being barred from fatherhood, (c) being ambivalent about fatherhood, or (d) rejecting fatherhood. Community health nurses can use this information to assess father identity status and address factors that interfere with father engagement.

Adolescent Fathers in the Justice System Hoping for a Boy and Making Him a Man

Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, we explored the development of father identity among boys involved in the juvenile justice system. Youth were recruited from a juvenile detention center and school district in a northern California county with a high teen birth rate. The participants were expecting a child or parenting an infant and had been arrested, incarcerated, or had committed a crime. We collected data through observations and individual interviews. Using constant comparative and dimensional analysis, we found that expectant adolescent fathers hoped for a boy and envisioned their central role as father to be making their son a man. This article contributes to greater understanding of father identity development for youth involved in the justice system. We suggest that teen parenting policies and programs include interventions sensitized by gender, accounting for the influence masculine ideals of manhood have on the development of father identity and the father–child relationship.

622 Exploring the impact of community-level trauma and implications for injury prevention

Background Communities that experience high rates of violence typically experience high levels of trauma. Trauma not only has a significant impact on development, health, and well-being, but can also be a barrier to the successful implementation of injury prevention strategies. The predominant construct for addressing trauma is currently based in a medical model at the individual level. In high-violence neighbourhoods, however, trauma can manifest at the community-level. To address this scale of trauma means not only insisting on trauma-informed care for individuals, but also exploring how to address trauma at the population level. Objective This session presents an emerging construct for population-level trauma and poses a framework to inform the development and implementation of strategies to prevent injury and trauma and promote community healing. Results With funding from Kaiser Permanente, Prevention Institute and Dr. Howard Pinderhughes conducted a study to explore trauma at the population level, how it impacts other community health improvement efforts, and emerging strategies. The impact of trauma extends beyond the individuals who directly witness or experience violence. Trauma is also produced by structural violence, which prevents people and communities from meeting their basic needs. The result is both high levels of trauma across the population and a breakdown of social networks, social relationships and positive social norms across the community – all of which could otherwise be protective against violence and other health outcomes. The study found that the impact of trauma extends beyond individuals who directly experience violence. This results in both high levels of trauma across the population and a break-down of social networks, social relationships and positive social norms across the community – all of which could otherwise be protective against violence. In order for communities to build resilience, strategies must be implemented that build on indigenous knowledge, expertise, and leadership to yield strategies that are culturally relevant and effective After this session, attendees should be able to discuss various ways community trauma can manifest at the community level. During this session, we will briefly describe the findings of the study and present the emerging framework., along with examples of communities that are developing and implementing community level strategies. Prevention Institute will then facilitate a peer-to-peer discussion exploring how community level trauma shows up in communities, and emerging resilience strategies to prevent and address it. Conclusions The community trauma framework has implications for practitioners, researchers, and advocates developing strategies to improve safety by overcoming community-level trauma as a barrier to successful injury prevention.