Adolescents' Violent Victimization * in the Neighbourhood: Situational and Contextual Determinants

Although recent research demonstrates the relevance of situational and structural-level processes in determining youth violent victimization, only scant attention has been given to these processes’ potential interactions. Accordingly, we study the interactive effects of unstructured socializing with peers, peer group orientation and neighbourhood social processes on adolescents’ violent victimization experiences in their neighbourhoods. Incorporating hypotheses from the routine activities and collective efficacy theories, we hypothesize that, while unstructured socializing with peers increases adolescents’ violent victimization, this effect is likely to be conditioned by the conventionality of peers and by the neighbourhood social context. We test this idea using data available in the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighbourhoods. Two important findings are reported. First, while unstructured socializing with peers is positively related to youths’ violent victimization in the neighbourhood, neighbourhood collective efficacy is negatively related to this outcome. Second, a significant and negative three-way cross-level interaction suggests that unstructured socializing with conventional peers is associated with violent victimization, but only when such activities occur within low collective efficacy neighbourhoods.