New Investigator Training and Doctoral Dissertations
CDC-RFA-CE07-009
Dissertation Grant Awards
for Doctoral Candidates for Violence-Related Research in Minority
Communities
Lyndsay N. Boggess
The Regents of the
University of California
300 University Tower
Social Ecology 2,
room 2364
Irvine, CA 92697
Phone: 949‑824‑4927
FAX: 949‑824‑3001
E‑mail:
lboggess@uci.edu
Grant Number: CE001224
Project Title: Neighborhood Change and Crime: Assessing the Relationship between the
Local Housing Market, Racial and Ethnic Transition, and Youth
Violence
Project Period: 09/01/2007 ‑ 08/31/2008
Abstract:
It is known that violence has a disproportionate impact on racial and ethnic minorities, but it is not yet understood why minority populations are particularly vulnerable to violent victimization. Most of the prior research on the risk and protective factors for youth violence has focused on individual‑level indicators such as the youths’ familial, social, and psychological status. This project however, takes a different approach by focusing on structural characteristics of the community and social environment that are associated with youth violence and victimization. In particular, this study will examine how changes in the local housing market and shifts in the racial and ethnic composition of neighborhoods impact youth violence. The results will indicate if these community changes differentially impact minority neighborhoods or the racial/ethnic composition of the victim‑offender dyad. The primary goals of this project are: (1) Examine the relationship between changes in the neighborhood economy and residential stability, as represented by changes in the average sale price of single family residences and the volume of home sales, shifts in the racial and ethnic composition of communities, and the rate of youth violence; (2) Test whether this relationship is consistent across different types of communities based on the racial and ethnic composition of the neighborhood; (3) Compare the effects of changes in the housing market and racial and ethnic composition on intra‑ versus interracial or interethnic violence. Longitudinal analysis on neighborhoods in south Los Angeles will be performed using housing, crime, and demographic data from 2000 to 2005. Though LA is an ethnically diverse, yet relatively segregated city, the racial and ethnic composition of communities is shifting as white Latino residents replace African Americans, particularly in south LA. Residents in these neighborhoods are often the most exposed to violence, as south LA has traditionally had one of the city’s biggest crime problems. By understanding how fluctuations in the stability and residential composition of neighborhoods impacts safety and violence, we can develop effective, informed, policy options that more suitably consider the effects of neighborhood structure, housing, racial and ethnic environment, and residential stability on youth violence prevention.
Angela Boy, M.P.H.
University of
Alabama at Birmingham
1530 3rd Avenue S,
RPHB 320
Birmingham, AL
35294‑0022
Phone: 205‑934‑7161
FAX: 205‑934‑8248
E‑mail:
amb2420@uab.edu
Grant Number: CE001223
Project Title:
Intimate Partner Violence in Hispanic Women in Alabama
Project Period: 09/01/2007 ‑ 08/31/2008
Abstract:
Intimate partner violence (IPV) affects women worldwide. However, very little is known about this phenomenon among Hispanic immigrant women, particularly in the Southeastern USA. This study seeks to provide the first data on this topic for Alabama. More importantly, we examine how Hispanics perceive IPV and how those perceptions affect their helpseeking behaviors. The current literature on the topic indicates that no studies have been done linking perceptions of violence with help‑seeking behaviors. The specific aims of this study are to: 1) describe the burden of IPV in the Hispanic community and the sociodemographic characteristics of Hispanic victims and non‑victims of IPV in Alabama; 2) examine how Hispanic women perceive intimate partner violence and how this perception affects their help‑seeking; and 3) examine characteristics of the population to determine knowledge of available resources, help‑seeking behaviors and barriers to helpseeking. We will recruit 700 women from the community at large in both the Birmingham (urban) and Anniston (rural) areas, as well as from the post‑partum unit at our University Hospital, to complete a questionnaire on topics pertaining to IPV. Additionally, we will conduct key informant interviews with 30 known Hispanic IPV victims. The use of several populations will enable better comprehension of the problem of IPV within the Hispanic community. Data will be analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods to address the study aims and research questions posed. The results of this research will provide valuable insight into how Hispanic IPV victims perceive abuse, how these perceptions affect victims’ help‑seeking, and how cultural and other factors may influence such behavior. The knowledge gained may also be used to inform service providers and to develop educational programs and other interventions to better meet the needs of Hispanic IPV victims and thereby reduce existing health disparities.
Michele R. Decker,
M.P.H.
The President and
Fellows of Harvard College
677 Huntington
Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
Phone: 617‑432‑5461
FAX: 617‑432‑3123
E‑mail:
mdecker@hsph.harvard.edu
Grant Number: CE001222
Project Title: Urban African American and Hispanic Men's Perpetration of Multiple
Forms of Violence
Project Period: 09/01/2007 ‑ 08/31/2008
Abstract:
Importance: Despite extensive evidence of increased rates of violence among African American and Hispanic men, information specific to these communities for describing the etiology of sexual assault (SA), intimate partner violence (IPV), peer violence (PV) are often lacking in etiological research concerning these outcomes. Identification of potentially modifiable protective factors across multiple levels of the socio‑ecological model is critical to enhance our ability to design effective violence prevention programs tailored to these high‑risk groups.
Objectives: To address this unmet need, the current study seeks to inform risk and protective factors across the individual, family / peer and community levels of socio‑ecological model specific to 1) African American and 2) Hispanic men concerning perpetration of 1) SA, 2) IPV and 3) PV. Design: The proposed study will employ secondary data analysis of a community‑based, cross-sectional dataset collected from a large urban sample of men ages 18‑35 largely comprised of two minority groups, specifically African American (11=1350) and Latino (n=8oo) men. Setting and Participants: Participants were recruited at three urban community health centers for a study designed to assess the etiology of men's IPV perpetration across a diverse population, thus the data offer tremendous depth concerning risk and protective factors of interest across multiple levels of the socio‑ecological model. The proposed analyses, stratified by race / ethnicity and informing multiple forms of violence perpetration, were beyond the scope of the original study however this rich dataset is optimal for this purpose. Analyses of these community‑based data will inform the influences of individual, family/relationship, and community risk and protective factors on the past‑year perpetration of SA, IPV, and PV, for these two high risk groups.
Melissa Dichter,
B.A.
Trustees of the
University of Pennsylvania
3701 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone: 215‑898‑5541
FAX: 215‑573‑2791
E‑mail:
dichter@sp2.upenn.edu
Grant Number: CE001226
Project Title: Impact of Intimate Assault Arrest on Battered Women's Safety and
Service Needs
Project Period:
09/01/2007 ‑ 08/31/2008
Abstract:
Importance: Increasingly, women are arrested for assaults against male partners; many of these women are also victims of intimate partner violence (IPV). The empirical literature has yet to identify the impact that being arrested has on a battered woman’s safety and service needs; such knowledge is crucial for informing prevention and intervention effort to reduce women’s victimization and perpetration of violence. Objectives: The objective of this study is to develop knowledge that will inform efforts to prevent intimate partner violence, ultimately to reduce morbidity and mortality, particularly among the most threatened population: racial and ethnic minority women. The goals of this study are to detect the service needs and risk of re‑victimization among battered women, based on IPV arrest experiences (whether or not she was arrested, whether or not her partner was arrested). The primary hypothesis is that a battered woman’s arrest will negatively impact her future safety and increase her need for social, health, and public services that may facilitate her escaping future violence. Study Design: A non‑experimental , cross‑sectional design employing both quantitative and qualitative methods will be used to compare four groups of battered women: (a) partner arrested, woman not arrested (single‑male); (b) woman arrested, partner not arrested (single female); (c) woman and partner both arrested (dual arrest); and (d) neither woman nor partner arrested (no arrest). The primary instrument will be a close‑ended questionnaire, complemented by in‑depth open-ended interviews eliciting women’s views and experiences in their own words. Setting: The study will take place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Delaware with participants recruited from a hospital emergency department and social service agencies; the majority of the study population identifies as non‑White; primarily Black and/or Latina. Participants: Participants will be English‑speaking adult women who have experienced a police call to intervene in an incident of fighting or violence between themselves and a male partner and who are receiving services in a community‑based hospital or organization. There will be 64 participants in each of the four groups, for a total sample size of 256. Outcome Measures: The primary outcomes are risk of re‑victimization and service needs, as measured by self‑report to both open‑ and close‑ended questions. Validated measures of risk will be used in combination with women’s own perceptions of need.