Illinois — Targeted Issue

Author(s)/Presenter(s)

Karen Sheehan, Joseph A. DiCara, Susan LeBailly, Katherine Kaufer Christoffel

Abstract/Description

Objectives. This study assessed the effectiveness of an inner-city peer-mentoring program in modifying the attitudes and behaviors involving violence of preadolescent mentees.

Methods. In a case-matched cohort study involving 7- to 13-year-old children, 50 children enrolled in peer mentoring (case subjects) were compared with 75 control subjects. Case subjects were involved before enrollment in the community program in which the intervention occurred; control subjects lived in the same housing project and were matched with case subjects on age, sex, and census tract. A total of 19 community adolescents mentored the case subjects by designing and presenting violence prevention lessons. Two reliable self-report scales, Determining our Viewpoints of Violent Events and Normative Beliefs About Aggression Scale, were used to measure attitudinal change. Teachers completed the Revised Behavior Problem Checklist to assess changes in behavior.

Results. At baseline, the survey scores of the case and control subjects were not different. After the intervention period, the case scores indicated less support for violence than the control scores. Case behavior scores did not change, but control behavior scores worsened.

Conclusions. The data suggest that peer mentoring for younger children may be an important component of efforts to reduce youth violence. A larger multisite trial is warranted. violence prevention, peer mentoring, community-based.

Author(s)/Presenter(s)

Karen Sheehan, MD, MPH; Joseph A. DiCara, MD, MPH; Susan LeBailly, PhD; Katherine Kaufer Christoffel, MD, MPH

Abstract/Description

Objective: To assess the exposure to violence of a representative sample of children living in an inner-city public housing development.

Design: Self-report survey.

Setting: Chicago public housing development that covers 4 census tracts; population, 95% African American, 75% below the poverty level.

Participants: One hundred forty-six African American youth, aged 7 through 13 years, completed the survey; 53% were male, mean and median ages, 11 years. Seventy-two children (case subjects) are involved in a community-based health and recreation program. They completed the survey prior to participating in a peer-mentoring violence prevention curriculum. The other 74 children (control subjects) were recruited by a community member going door to door. Control subjects were matched to case subjects for age, sex, and census tract.

Results: The case and control subjects were similar in their exposure to violence and so were grouped for analysis. Of the 146 children, 42% had seen someone shot and 37% had seen someone stabbed; 21% lived with someone who had been shot and 16% lived with someone who had been stabbed. Forty-seven percent of the girls and 55% of the boys had witnessed violence (P > .25). Almost all subjects (90%) felt safe at home. Two thirds (65%) of the children were not afraid to play outside, but almost half (43%) worried about getting hurt at school.

Conclusions: These data, which describe a representative sample of children from an inner-city housing project, confirm the results from older clinic- and school-based convenience samples. In this low-income community, children are frequently exposed to deadly violence. In contrast with other reports, girls here are not spared.