Megan Kurlychek
Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, State University of New York
Key Findings
- There is little support that neighborhood factors can reduce the risk of violent outcomes in adolescents.
- Parents of children with a high risk of violent outcomes, who are integrated into neighborhoods, are less likely to experience violent outcomes than children whose parents are not integrated into the neighborhood.
Description
In the study, “Protection From Risk: Exploration of When and How Neighborhood-Level Factors Can Reduce Violent Youth Outcomes,” Kurlychek examines protective factors, identified as factors that are positive and supportive, of adolescents at high risk of violent outcomes. Kurlychek and her coauthors examined variables such as the percentage of the population living in poverty, the racial composition of neighborhoods, neighborhood crime and more. Research has already been done on risk factors that increase the probability of negative outcomes for youth in neighborhoods on the individual level. Kurlychek found that the more integrated in the social network of the neighborhood parents of at risk youth are, the less likely to have violent outcomes. In their work, Kurlychek and her coauthors noted a strong opportunity for neighborhoods to provide more support to children in order to keep them away from violent outcomes.