Neighborhood Structure, Immigrant Status, and Youth Violence

• Author: Lori A. Burrington
• DOI: 10.1177/1541204014547723
• Published date: 01 October 2015
• Date: 01 October 2015
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Neighborhood Structure,

Immigrant Status, and Youth

Violence: Assessing the Role

of Parental Supervision

Lori A. Burrington

1

Abstract

Research indicates that children of immigrants are less likely to engage in violence than children of

native-born parents, even when they live in high-risk neighborhoods, suggesting that foreign-born

parents employ strategies that buffer children from delinquency. Parental supervision is important

for adolescent well-being, and some scholars suggest it is especially important for adolescents resid-

ing in disadvantaged communities. Others argue supervision is more critical for youth residing in

advantaged contexts, where parental involvement is normative. To date, evidence on the interplay

between supervision and neighborhood characteristics is mixed, suggesting a more complex rela-

tionship. This study considers whether immigrant status further conditions the interplay between

supervision and neighborhood characteristics, using data from a sample of adolescents residing in

Chicago neighborhoods. Findings indicate that less supervised, first-generation adolescents are

more likely to perpetrate violence in low-risk neighborhoods, while less supervised, second- and

third-generation adolescents are more likely to perpetrate violence in high-risk settings.

Keywords

immigration, adolescents, violence, supervision, neighborhood effects

Introduction

Prior research offers mixed evidence on the ways that family contexts mediate (and/or moderate) the

effects of neighborhood structural characteristics on youth outcomes. Although effective parenting

is believed to have a uniformly positive effect on child and adolescent well-being, some scholars

suggest that parenting strategies are of greatest import in high-risk communities, where they serve

as a buffer from the risks associated with residence in a disadvantaged area (Rankin & Quane, 2002;

1

Department of Sociology, Anthropology, Social Work, and Criminal Justice, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

Corresponding Author:

Lori A. Burrington, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, Social Work, and Criminal Justice, Oakland University, Varner

Hall, Rochester, MI 48309, USA.

Email: burrington@oakland.edu

Youth Violence and JuvenileJustice

2015, Vol. 13(4) 367-390

ªThe Author(s) 2014

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DOI: 10.1177/1541204014547723

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Sampson, 1992). Other scholars, however, argue that parenting deficits are more critical to the

well-being of youth growing up in low-risk, more advantaged contexts, in which involved parents

are the norm (Ba´maca, Uman

˜a-Taylor, Shin, & Alfaro, 2005). In these settings, adolescents with

uninvolved parents may be more likely to engage in problem behavior, including violence, because

they interpret parenting deficits as lack of care. In contrast, adolescents residing in high-risk, disad-

vantaged communities may view a lack of parental involvement as inevitable, given the many life

challenges facing parents in these settings.

Yet, the interplay between parenting and neighborhood characteristics may be further conditioned

by immigrant status. Immigrant family and neighborhood contexts have been shown to be protective

for adolescents,findings that some scholars havesuggested are paradoxical, since immigrant families

and neighborhoods more often experience above-average levels of economic disadvantage (Markides

& Coreil, 1986;Sampson, 2008). Researchers suspect that family socialprocesses may explain part of

this advantage(Marsiglia, Parsai, & Kulis, 2009);however, the precise mechanisms remain uncertain,

perhaps because the immigrant experience shapes the meaning of family social processes. Immigrant

parents are thought to place a higher value onthe family, yet many are operating underconstraints as

they strive to make their way while residing in high-risk, economically disadvantaged communities

(Horowitz, 1983; Marsiglia et al., 2009). Thus, immigrant statusmay alter expectations for the nature

and extent of parenting, with implications for the relationship between parenting strategies and vio-

lence among children of foreign-born (vs. native-born) parents.

This study examines the interplay between parental supervision and neighborhood structural

characteristics. Is the relationship between parental supervision and individual adolescent violence

mediated and/or moderated by neighborhood structural characteristics? Second, to what extent does

the interplay between parental supervision and neighborhood structure differ by the adolescent’s

immigrant status? Children of foreign-born parents may differ from children of U.S.-born parents

in their expectations for the level of family social support in ways that further condition the relation-

ships between and among parental supervision, neighborhood structure, and adolescent violence.

Family Social Processes and Youth Violence

Scholars have long identified the importance of family structure and social processes as predictors of

adolescent delinquent and problem behavior outcomes. Children who are raised in intact families,

with close, supportive family relationships, and who are subject to parental monitoring/supervision

have better outcomes, on average, than children who grow up in less advantageous developmental

circumstances (Farrington, 2002; Loeber & Stouthamer-Loeber, 1986; Smith & Stern, 1997). These

effects are enduring, as early life family deficits have been found to be associated with problem

behavior well into adulthood (McCord, 1979; Sampson & Laub, 1993).

Much of the research on family factors has drawn on individual-level theories of social control,

which specify that adolescents who maintain attachments to conventional parents and other proso-

cial individuals refrain from crime and delinquency because they are concerned about the social

costs of violating conventional normative expectations (Hirschi, 1969; Nye, 1958; Reiss, 1951).

From a social control perspective, parental supervision is viewed as having both direct and indirect

social control effects on adolescent behavior. Parents who monitor their children directly inhibit

delinquency by keeping a watchful eye on children and adolescents, thereby limiting opportunities

for delinquent behavior. Yet the practice of regular monitoring has indirect effects that are influen-

tial even when the adolescent is out of sight; adolescents are more likely to refrain from behaviors

that would not meet with their parents’ approval (Hirschi, 1969). The lasting impact of monitoring

may help to explain why parental supervision has the strongest and most consistent negative asso-

ciation with delinquency of the family social processes that scholars typically examine (Farrington

& Loeber, 1999; Smith & Stern, 1997).

368 Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice 13(4)