The Protective Factors and Life Outcomes of Youth Exposed to Community Violence

<p>There is an increasing interest in the life outcomes of youth that are exposed to community violence. Previous research has found that community violence has a direct effect on youth development. It has also shown that there are economic costs for communities that have high levels of community violence. Thus far, the literature on youth in these areas has focused on protective factors such as school connectedness, family connectedness, religion and positive life outcomes. There is little research on the affects of mentoring on life outcomes for individuals that were exposed to community violence during adolescence. This study explores mentoring as a mediating variable that promotes positive life outcomes by analyzing data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health studies. A nested multiple regression model was used to evaluate the data. The results show that individuals with mentors are more likely to be civically engaged during young adulthood.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Department of Sociology

Year

2012

Author dc:creator

• Bamwine, Patricia

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. James Kanan (Director), Dr. Douglas Smith, Dr. Kate King

• youth violence
• social bond theory
• academic attainment
• job attainment
• civic participation
• Criminology
• Place and Environment
• Sociology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1180

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.wku.edu:theses-2182