| Description |
Objective: Youth growing up in neighborhoods characterized by disadvantage and inequality disproportionately experience a number of negative outcomes. In particular, neighborhood disadvantage (ND) has been related to increased rates of offending among youth. However, little is known about the mechanisms implicated in the association between ND and offending, in particular for youth already involved in the juvenile justice system. Thus, the current study investigated the roles of polyvictimization and discrimination as contributors to the association between ND and offending in a sample of detained youth. Method: The study included 262 youth (57.7% identified as ethnic minorities) recruited from a juvenile detention center in the Western United States. ND indicators were gathered from the 2010 census data, whereas measures of polyvictimization, racial discrimination, and self-reported offending were assessed through youth self-reports. Recidivism or official reoffending in the year following study participation was gathered through formal juvenile justice records. Results: We found that the ND indicators did not form a good-fitting factor structure. In addition, in our best-fitting model, the only significant path was the association between polyvictimization and self-reported offending. Lastly, no ethnic group differences were found for the direct effects of racial discrimination or for the interactions that included racial discrimination. Conclusions: These findings highlight the need to refine our measures of ND and for continued research on possible mechanisms implicated in iv youth's self-reported offending and recidivism. The findings also highlight the need to continue a trauma-informed transformation of the juvenile justice system, including the identification of polyvictims in detention centers. |
