YOUTH%20VIOLENCE:%20AN%20ECOLOGICAL%20VIEW

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YOUTH VIOLENCE AN ECOLOGICAL VIEW

• Mark Edberg, Ph.D.
• Associate Professor
• George Washington University School of Public
  Health and Health Services, and
• Department of Anthropology

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THE PROBLEM

• According to the World Health Organization,
  violence is one of the leading public health
  issues of our time (WHO 2002).
• Violence in general is among the main causes of
  death for people aged 15-44 years of age, and
  interpersonal violence among young adults aged
  15-29 was responsible for 36.2 percent of that
  total (Ibid).
• In many LAC countries, violence is the primary
  cause of death for young men between the ages of
  15-34 (PAHO 2001).

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THE PROBLEM

• Both global data and data for the United States
  show that youth violence has been increasing in
  the past several years (WHO 2002 Butts Snyder
  2006).
• In the U.S. this increase is occurring among
  selected high-poverty communities and
  particularly related to youth under age 25 (Butts
  Snyder 2006).
• Intentional violence is the leading cause of
  death for African-American youth age 10-24, the
  second leading cause of death for Latino and
  Asian/Pacific Islander youth, and the third
  leading cause for American Indian, Alaska Native
  youth (in the United States -- CDC 2007).

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CAUSES/CONTRIBUTING FACTORS

• One common framework for pinpointing causes of
  youth violence and risk behavior is the risk and
  protective factors model (e.g., Hawkins, Catalano
  Miller 1992), which views such behavior as an
  outcome of exposure to a range of risk and
  protective factors.
• The model lays out a set of factors that, over
  the youth development process, are said to
  increase or decrease the likelihood that a given
  youth will engage in problem behaviors (violence,
  delinquency, substance abuse, school dropout,
  HIV/AIDS risk behavior, or others).
• Exposure to risk factors increases the likelihood
  of problem behavior exposure to protective
  factors buffers the risk factors and reduces the
  likelihood of problem behavior.

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RISK AND PROTECTIVE FACTOR DOMAINS

• Risk factors domains
• Individual e.g., biological, psychological,
  attitudes, values
• Peer e.g., norms, activities, attachment
• Family e.g., dysfunction, violence, bonding
• School e.g., bonding, environment, policies
• Community e.g., norms, resources, crime,
  bonding
• Society/environment e.g., norms, policies
• Protective factor domains
• Individual e.g., gender, temperament
• Social bonding e.g., to pro-social groups
• Family, school, community -- Healthy beliefs and
  clear behavior standards.

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RISK/PROTECTIVE FACTOR INTERVENTIONS

• Under this approach, programs are typically
  developed and implemented that address one or a
  selected number of risk factors in a community
  for example, family dysfunction, or school
  dropout.
• Such programs may have a positive impact on the
  specific factors they targetBUT still may not
  reduce youth violence.

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CRIMINAL JUSTICE INTERVENTIONS

• Other approaches have focused on law enforcement
  and criminal justice interventions identifying
  and arresting gang leadership, deportation (in
  the U.S.), stiffer penalties, and others.
• Such interventions may also be effective in
  temporary suppression of gang-related and other
  violent activity.
• But in the longer term, the larger issue of youth
  violence is not resolved.

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THE REASONS?

• The data overwhelmingly associate high rates of
  youth violence with persistent income
  disparities, marginality, social exclusion
  (except, for example, in cases of civil war).
• These factors most certainly have a collective,
  negative impact on risk factor domains.
• BUT that impact is generally not confined to
  single or selected domains.
• The likelihood is that youth violence occurs at
  high levels where there is a social ecology that
  supports it that is, where many factors come
  together to create an overall environment in
  which violence is perceived to have utility and
  value, and where there are few supports for
  alternative paths.

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YOUTH VIOLENCE FROM MULTIPLE ECOLOGICAL LEVELS
Political/Economic/Structural
Social Group
Individual
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CONTRIBUTING FACTORS, WORKING TOGETHER

• In a social ecology that is an outgrowth of
  poverty and social exclusion
• Youth often do not believe there is a place for
  them outside of the bounded social ecology in
  which they live.
• Youth learn that violence is an important, or
  maybe the only, means to achieve a reputation and
  social status as well as to obtain material
  gain (e.g., through drug dealing, which often
  involves violence).
• Youth come to accept the risks of injury or worse
  (from violence) as normal, expectedand may view
  their probable lifespan as short.

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CONTRIBUTING FACTORS, WORKING TOGETHER contd

• It becomes relatively easy for social
  organizations such as gangs to form or take root
  Gangs are not new they have grown out of these
  situations for generations..
• These organizations have shared values, codes,
  beliefs that are a reflection of the high-risk
  social ecology.
• They provide a structure, social roles, a
  life-path that often make sense to youth in such
  contexts, and support youth in programs I work
  with often say the gang has my back.

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SOCIAL ECOLOGY, YOUTH DEVELOPMENT, VIOLENCE

• Multiple ecological levels work together to shape
  youth development which includes the process of
  forming an identity.
• The social context plays an important role in
  shaping the kinds of identities youth believe are
  possible for them.
• Yet the examples of possible identities they
  see come primarily from characters in the
  high-risk social ecology around them.
• These characters often gain social value through
  reputations or even mythologies that surround
  them.

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EXAMPLE NARCO-CORRIDOS, THE HEROIC PERSONA, AND
VIOLENCE

• Corridos are a traditional hero-song form in
  Mexico featuring heroic acts of local, often
  rural people
• In recent years, an entire pop-song genre in the
  form of the corrido has become widespread. These
  corridos, called narco-corridos, are about
  narcotraffickers, their exploits and their
  attitude of braving any risk and spitting in
  the face of death.
• Many youth I interviewed in a Mexican border
  research project wanted to have a narcocorridos
  written about them.

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EXAMPLE NARCO-CORRIDOS, THE HEROIC PERSONA, AND
VIOLENCE

• In a high-poverty setting (colonias in the border
  region), where there are few perceived options
  among the poor for having status, or gaining
  recognition, having a corrido written about you
  is one signifier of importance.
• The fact that one may die, or engage in violence,
  or take other risks to have that corrido written
  about you may seem less important to these youth
  than the recognition gained. After all, whether
  in this life, or in the next, having a corrido
  means you are something.

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EXAMPLE NARCO-CORRIDOS, THE HEROIC PERSONA, AND
VIOLENCE

• Narcocorridos, among other things, present an
  image of willingness to face death or
  willingness to take risks that is part of the
  cultural persona (in old corridos as well).
  Examples
• Pistols and daggers
• Are playthings for me
• Bullets and stabbings
• Big laughs for me
• With their means cut off
• Theyre afraid around here
• (From Joaquin Murieta)

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EXAMPLE NARCO-CORRIDOS, THE HEROIC PERSONA, AND
VIOLENCE

• More examples of the willingness to face death
  or willingness to take risks schema
• Death is always near me
• But I dont know how to give in
• I know the government hunts me
• Even under the sea
• But theres a way around everything
• And my hiding place hasnt been found
• (From Mis Tres Animales)

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EXAMPLE NARCO-CORRIDOS, THE HEROIC PERSONA, AND
VIOLENCE

• Many narcocorridos also include a reference to
  movement from poverty to riches or power, also a
  part of the persona. Examples
• I came from Hermosillo
• In search of gold and riches
• From the greedy rich
• I took away their money
• With the humble and poor
• I took off my hat
• Oh, what unjust laws
• To call me a highwayman
• (From Joaquin Murieta)

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EXAMPLE NARCO-CORRIDOS, THE HEROIC PERSONA, AND
VIOLENCE

• More examples of the rags to riches or power
  schema
• I learned to live life
• until I had money
• I dont deny that I was poor
• And that I was a mule skinner
• Now I am a great gentleman
• The gringos covet my pets
• (From Mis Tres Animales)

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WHAT TO DO?

• Programs addressing SINGLE FACTORS will not get
  at the ecological nature of youth violence.
• It is necessary to conduct and assessment of the
  multiple factors contributing to youth violence
  in a given community, region, or area.
• Interventions that address the interaction of
  these multiple factors (the social ecology)
  while more difficult to implement are more
  likely to address the problem over the long term.
  

CP21610T