275676
Friends, families, and schools: What matters most in Latino youth violence?
Monday, November 4, 2013
: 9:30 a.m. - 9:50 a.m.
Rashmi Shetgiri, MD,
Department of Pediatrics, Division of General Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Children's Medical Center, Dallas, TX
Hua Lin, PhD,
Department of Pediatrics, Division of General Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX
Glenn Flores, MD,
Department of Pediatrics, Division of General Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Children's Health System of Texas, Dallas, TX
Background: Violence among adolescents is a significant public-health problem, and disproportionately affects Latinos. Methods: The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health consists of interviews with a nationally representative, school-based clustered sample of 7th-12th grade students and their parents. Predictors at Wave 1, and the outcome at Wave 2, were analyzed among Latinos. The outcome was child violence-involvement in the past 12 months. A continuous scale was created using 8 items, and dichotomized at the 80th percentile. Bivariate and stepwise multivariable logistic regression analyses examined associations of individual, peer, family, and school characteristics with violence. Results: 25% of the 3,349 Latinos in this sample were involved in violence. In bivariate analyses, male gender, past violent victimization, violence exposure, drug use, peer delinquency, and low family and school connectedness were associated with violence involvement. Violence involvement was 14% for those in the highest tertile on the school connectedness scale vs. 42% for the lowest tertile (p<.01). In multivariable analyses, male gender (OR, 3.2; 95% CI, 1.6-6.3), drug use (OR, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.3-5), past violent victimization, and violence exposure predicted violence involvement, whereas higher school connectedness (OR 0.5; 95% CI, 0.3-0.7) and increasing age were protective. Peer and family factors were not associated with violence involvement. Conclusions: One in four Latino youth is involved in violence. Male gender, drug use, violent victimization, and violence exposure are important risk factors, and older age and school connectedness appear to be protective. Targeting these factors may prove useful in interventions to reduce Latino youth violence.
Learning Areas:
Diversity and culture
Epidemiology
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related research
Learning Objectives:
Identify individual, family, peer, and school risk and protective factors that predict violence involvement among Latino adolescents.
Keyword(s): Youth Violence, Latinos
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the principal investigator of multiple grants and author of multiple peer-reviewed publications focusing on the prevention of youth violence, bullying prevention, and racial/ethnic disparities. Among my scientific interests have been the identification of individual and contextual factors that influence youth violence and bullying, and risk and protective factors for violence among Latino youth.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines,
and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed
in my presentation.
