Objective: Violence in the United States has reached epidemic proportions and has exceeded illness as the major cause of pediatric morbidity and mortality in some communities. Despite a plethora of violence prevention programs and strategies, the incidence of youth violence continues to increase. Our knowledge base regarding adolescents affected by violence has not been informed by the experiences of the adolescents themselves. The empirical evidence that does exist is limited primarily to school based surveys, thus failing to capture truants, dropouts, and the homeless- the adolescents at greatest risk. Females are practically absent altogether from the youth violence literature. The purpose of this study was to investigate adolescent and community leaders' attitudes and perceptions of violence.
Design: This study employed an ethnographic assessment and consensus analysis in order to achieve a culturally and contextually sensitive analysis of perceptions of violence. Adolescent attitudes and perceptions of violence were compared to community leaders perceptions of violence and the degree of concordance was calculated. Cultural consensus analysis (Romney, Weller & Batchelder, 1986) was applied to this investigation of youth violence in order to: (1) measure the cultural understanding of adolescent perceptions of violence, (2) measure the cultural understanding of community leaders perceptions of violence, (3) compare the differences between the two groups and (4) determine the relative importance of gender (if any) in explaining differences in perceptions.
Population, Sample, Setting, Years: The study groups consist of a purposive sample of community leaders and adolescents living in Rochester, New York during the study period (January - June, 1999). Adult community leaders identified as appropriate for the study were defined as those individuals empowered to design, implement or enforce, laws, policies and curriculum affecting violent adolescents. The fifty-four adults enrolled reflect a diverse sampling of leaders from the criminal justice system, health & human services, education, government and elected officials. Adolescents selected as study participants live in the most economically distressed areas of Rochester and had been identified as 'violent or persistently behaviorally challenged' by the Rochester City School district guidelines. Most had failed in school and many had the additional burden of being homeless. Sixty-five adolescents were enrolled at a variety of locations including alternative education programs, recreation centers, a homeless shelter, and 'on the streets'.
Methods: Two separate survey instruments (adult & adolescent) were used in the study. In each survey, the respondents were asked a total of 56 questions. The first two questions asked them to (1) list their definitions of violence and (2) if someone were to threaten them, whom would they rely on for protection. The next 49 questions were a series of statements addressing the causes and correlates of youth violence. Informants were asked to respond using a five-point Likert scale. The Teleformâ Designer software was used to design, scan, and verifier the surveys. Data were converted into Excel spreadsheets (adult & adolescent) and imported into PC Anthropacâ and SPSS 9.0â for statistical analysis.
All interviews were conducted individually, tape recorded and transcribed verbatim. CDC EZ-Text (version 3.05) was used to create databases in order to manage and analyze the semi-structured qualitative data. Text segmentation of the transcribed interviews was performed and all text segments were entered into the databases. A codebook was written based on the multiple themes encountered in the interviews. All text passages were coded allowing conversion of the qualitative data into quantitative data. Data was imported into SPSS 9.0â and EpiInfo for analysis.
Findings: The analysis supports the presence of a 'cultural model' of violence among adults, and indicates that adult attitudes and perceptions towards violence are strongly influenced by job sector affiliation, and by their frequency of interaction with violent youth. Analysis of the adolescents supports a cultural model of violence among females but not males. The results strongly suggest that gender is a major determinant in attitudes and perceptions towards youth violence, along with location of residence. Those teens living at home had a stronger model of violence than those who were homeless.
Conclusions: Adult community leaders and adolescents hold different cultural models of violence, differ in their definitions of 'violence', and thus, may not be 'speaking the same language'. Even among adolescent males with a history of violent behavior the criteria for consensus was not met, suggesting that as a group, adolescent males differ.
Implications: Community leaders need to communicate more with other disciplines, and seek collaborative efforts in violence prevention. Targeting policy and curricula by gender and location of residence may make more sense than the current, generic approach to violence prevention.
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