Tara D. Warner

If they grow up: exploring the neighborhood context of adolescent and young adult survival expectations

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this paper examines individual and neighborhood predictors of adolescent and young adult survival expectations - their confidence of surviving to age 35. Analyses revealed that within-person increases in depression and violent perpetration decreased the odds of expecting to survive. Individuals who rated themselves in good health and received routine physical care had greater survival expectations. Consistent with documented health disparities, Black and Hispanic youth had lower survival expectations than did their White peers. Neighborhood poverty was linked to diminished survival expectations both within and between persons, with the between person association remaining significant controlling for mental and physical health, exposure to violence, own violence, and a wide range of socio-demographic factors.

Adolescent Survival Expectations: Variations by Race, Ethnicity, and Nativity

Adolescent survival expectations are linked to a range of problem behaviors, poor health, and later socioeconomic disadvantage, yet scholars have not examined how survival expectations are differentially patterned by race, ethnicity, and/or nativity. This is a critical omission given that many risk factors for low survival expectations are themselves stratified by race and ethnicity. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we modeled racial, ethnic, and immigrant group differences in trajectories of adolescent survival expectations and assess whether these differences are accounted for by family, neighborhood, and/or other risk factors (e.g., health care access, substance use, exposure to violence). Findings indicated that most racial, ethnic, and immigrant groups were more pessimistic about their survival than were non-Hispanic whites, with the exception of Cuban youth, who were the most optimistic. Foreign-born Mexican youth had the lowest survival expectations, contrary to expectations from the “healthy-immigrant” hypothesis.

Individual, behavioral, and situational correlates of the drugging victimization experiences of college women:

Interest in “drugging” has increased, with much focus on drugging victimization within the context of sexual assault and particularly among college students. This study uses data from the Campus Sexual Assault (CSA) Study and the Historically Black College and University Campus Sexual Assault (HBCU-CSA) Study to explore college women’s drugging victimization experiences beyond those limited to drug-facilitated sexual assault. We draw on a lifestyle-exposure/routine activity theory approach to personal victimization integrated with scholarship on gendered opportunities and the campus party culture to examine the individual, behavioral, and situational characteristics embedded in the campus environment that place college women at increased risks of being drugged. We pay particular attention to cultural and institutional differences shaping experiences and risks at predominantly White institutions (PWIs) and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Findings show that 5% and 4% of women at PWIs and HBCUs, respectively, report drugging victimization and that exposure to risky situations (e.g., fraternity party attendance) is a risk factor primarily for women at PWIs.

Book Review: Communities and crime: An enduring American challengeWilcoxP.CullenF. T.FeldmeyerB. (2018). Communities and crime: An enduring American challenge. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. 261 pp.

among fellow inmates. Similarly, in Chapter 5, Gambetta describes the value of self-harm as a signal in the prison environment, indicating to others a potential for madness or unprovoked violence, which may aid in inducing fear among fellow inmates. In Part II of Codes of the Underworld, which commences with Chapter 6, Gambetta discusses the challenges of signals with double meanings and the danger of misinterpretation of signals. Signals are essential for communicating in plain sight but have the potential to carry serious consequences whether the signal is missed or misunderstood. Gambetta observes three scenarios for signal misinterpretation: the first is a simple missing of the signal or lack of recognition; the second is the misidentification of a nonsignal as a signal. These effectively translate into Type I and Type II errors of criminal communication. The third category is misunderstanding of the meaning of the signal and the resulting fallout from failing to decipher the code correctly. This transitions into the need to have some form of verification of authenticity for easy to fake symbols. Chapters 7 and 8 provide discussion of the need to protect symbols that are easy to replicate for criminals. Gambetta discusses how criminals often use violence as a dystopian form of trademark enforcement against imposters who wrongfully use protected symbols such as tattoos. Those who wrongfully obtain a protected symbol can suffer grave consequences. Certain marks in the underworld can be used to convey a sort of brand quality. Gambetta notes that without a type of governmental rating system to assess and provide consumers with information regarding quality, criminals rely on reputation and symbols to convey quality. This practice has become a hallmark of trades in certain narcotics markets where drug suppliers have branding on packages that convey the provider to consumers. In some instances, the benefit for some heroin dealers of creating a brand may be worth the added risk of being associated with specific transactions in future police investigations. Like brand names, nicknames play an important role in the underworld. Various nicknames are used, but often names are reassigned to individuals providing a special anonymizing effect for thirdparty eavesdropping law enforcement. Sometimes nicknames may signify a particular skill, but this is not always the case. Gambetta concludes by discussing the evolution of real-life crime being inspired by Hollywood movie films, citing examples of mafia members watching films like the Godfather repeatedly or of the inverse with real-life mafia anecdotes inspiring Hollywood plots. Gambetta has done a fine job writing a book that is likely to be of interest to a wide range of readers. This book has more general appeal than most academic texts, though among academics, it is likely to be of particular interest to criminologists, economists, sociologists, those who study communications, and legal studies faculty with an interest in criminal networks. While an enjoyable and interesting read, Codes of the Underworld is likely best used as an introduction to the study of criminal communications, as the book relies heavily on anecdotes as illustrations for Gambetta’s arguments, as opposed to drawing connections to more academic sources.

29.95, ISBN 978-1-59213-974-3.

The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of maternal depressive symptoms on adolescent alcohol use among a sample of Latino/Latina youth aged 10 to 16 years from a high-risk community. Direct and mediating effects of youth depressive symptoms, controlling for levels of concurrent emotion dysregulation, on alcohol use were examined. Participants consisted of 525 children and their mothers randomly sampled from low-income schools with high rates of substance use. The panel design included four waves, and we used structural equation modeling with a longitudinal mediational framework. Results indicated that the relationship between maternal depressive symptoms and adolescent alcohol use was mediated by adolescents’ symptoms of depression for girls only. Findings are discussed in the context of the development of skills to cope with negative affect and the influence parental depressive symptoms may have on this process.The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of maternal depressive symptoms on adolescent alcohol use among a sample of Latino/Latina youth aged 10 to 16 years from a high-risk community. Direct and mediating effects of youth depressive symptoms, controlling for levels of concurrent emotion dysregulation, on alcohol use were examined. Participants consisted of 525 children and their mothers randomly sampled from low-income schools with high rates of substance use. The panel design included four waves, and we used structural equation modeling with a longitudinal mediational framework. Results indicated that the relationship between maternal depressive symptoms and adolescent alcohol use was mediated by adolescents’ symptoms of depression for girls only. Findings are discussed in the context of the development of skills to cope with negative affect and the influence parental depressive symptoms may have on this process.

Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Adolescent Alcohol Use: The Mediating Role of Youth Depressive Symptoms

Concentrated in adolescence, violent victimization is developmentally disruptive. It undermines physical, mental, and socioemotional well-being and compromises youths’ transitions into and progression through key life course tasks. Youth violent victimization (YVV) has been linked to precocious exits from adolescence and premature entries into adulthood. This includes early entry into coresidential romantic unions, which is but one stage of a relationship sequence generally beginning via dating debut. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) and Cox regression, we examine the effects of YVV on the timing of dating debut and progression to first coresidential unions during adolescence and the transition to adulthood. We pay particular attention to how these effects may be structured by age and gender. Overall, we find that victims begin dating sooner and progress more quickly from dating to first unions than do non-victims. However, youths victimized in early adolescence withdraw from dating and union formation, whereas late adolescent victims appear to overinvest in relationships—at least temporarily—displaying accelerated entry into dating and rapid progression to first unions. We conclude by discussing the implication of these age-graded patterns for intervention efforts and youth well-being more broadly.