CE25-029 - The Role of Longitudinal Community Resilience in Youth Violence Across Racial Groups: Impact of Childhood Abuse and Neglect

Syracuse University, Syracuse NY

Investigators

Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY: Fei Pei, PhD, MSW, is a social scientist whose overarching career goal is to identify the complex effects of community resilient factors on child abuse and neglect and youth violence and to develop effective interventions/preventions that address these issues. This CDC career award will provide Dr. Pei with rigorous training and systematic mentored research experiences to support her transition to an independent investigator in youth violence prevention and intervention. A team of prominent mentors will guide her proposed research aims and training activities. The career development plan includes four hands-on training goals to strengthen her expertise in: understanding community resilience and interventions for vulnerable youth (Goal 1), exploring youth violence across racial groups (Goal 2), mastering ethnographic methods (Goal 3), and applying advanced longitudinal statistics (Goal 4). During the award period, Dr. Pei will apply these new skills and knowledge to investigate the complex associations among community resilience, child abuse, neglect, and youth violence across racial groups. Community resilience encompasses various domains, including violence, physical environments, social relationships, and economic status. A community may exhibit resilience in certain domains while lacking in others, and these domains can interact in complex ways that influence youth violence. Additionally, community environments can vary among different racial groups, yet empirical studies rarely explore how community resilience differs across youth from different racial groups. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how the profiles of community resilience influence youth violence across racial groups, which can further foster the achievement of the American ideals of a pluralist society in the next generation. This proposed study aims to: 1) identify how profiles of community resilience influence youth violence across racial groups; 2) estimate the mediating effects of child abuse and neglect on the relationship between community resilience profiles and youth violence; and 3) explore the challenges and gaps in current interventions for youth with violent behaviors from a community resilience perspective. This study will contribute empirical evidence on the relationship between community resilience and youth violence, enabling intervention scientists to consider community-level factors when working with adolescents at higher risk for violence.