Female Adolescents Residing at an Emergency Shelter: Perceptions of Risk & Attitudes Towards Violence
Objective: Levels of violence in the United States have decreased over the past five years for every sector of the population except for adolescents. Despite the implementation of numerous prevention programs and strategies, the incidence of youth violence continues to increase. Our understanding of how adolescents perceive the violence they are exposed to is incomplete. The empirical evidence that does exist is limited primarily to large-scale epidemiological studies and school-based surveys. This research frequently fails to capture truants, dropouts, and possibly the homeless- the adolescents at greatest risk. Females are practically absent altogether from the youth violence literature. The devastating consequences to these children mandate a thoughtful and creative approach. This research investigates high-risk adolescent females' attitudes and perceptions of violence, and seeks to identify a greater understanding of violent behavior.
Design: This study employed a focus group methodology in order to achieve a culturally and contextually sensitive analysis of homeless adolescents' perceptions of violence.
Population, Sample, Setting, Year: This study group included a purposive sample of minor children who had left their homes and were currently residing at an Emergency Shelter administered by the Center for Youth Services at an undisclosed location in the city of Rochester, New York. Children seek out this shelter when they feel (for any number of reasons) that they can no longer stay at their home. Six adolescent females were invited and agreed to participate in this focus group, held at the Emergency Shelter in December, 2001.
Concept or Variables studied together: Genderization of Youth Violence, Homelessness
Methods: This study consisted of one focus group meeting that lasted approximately two and one half-hours. Data Analysis and Data Monitoring: The focus group discussion was tape recorded and transcribed verbatim. Text segmentation was performed on the discussion data based on the structured format used in the focus group. CDC EZ-Text was used to create a database for the systematic management and coding of the qualitative data. A codebook was written based on the multiple themes that were encountered during the focus group. Once coded, the data was exported into SPSS 9.0 for statistical analysis.
Findings: All adolescents participating in the focus group described a significant level of personal exposure to youth violence, either as victins or pepetrators. Participants varied in their perceptions of why youth violence in females is increasing. Reasons cited for the increased incidence in female violence include low self-esteem associated with media portrayals of women, relational issues (such as jealousy with peers & fighting over boys), sexual victimization, school failure, association with gangs and dysfunctional family structures. All adolescents reported having at least one strong female present in their lives. None of the participants could describe even one school-based or community sponsored violence prevention program.
Conclusions: Adolescent females residing at an Emergency Shelter are exposed to high levels of violence and are aware that violence among females is increasing. Violence prevention programs may not be reaching adolescents who are homeless.
Implications:Future research needs to address developing prevention initiatives that specifically target high-risk adolescent females.
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