Community Violence, Coping, and Youth Delinquency (1 CE)

Number of Credits: 1

This course is for:  Clinical Psychologists, Counselors, and LMFTs

Course By: Tim Grigsby, PhD

Content By: DiClemente, C. M., & Richards, M. H. (2019). Community violence in early adolescence: Assessing coping strategies for reducing delinquency and aggression. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, doi: 10.1080/15374416.2019.1650365.

Course Description: Racial minority and urban youth have a dramatically higher risk of witnessing violence and being victimized. The resulting internalizing and externalizing problems can have long-term effects as they disrupt academic achievement, building positive social networks, and developing coping strategies. Additionally, males and females may report different experiences with violence which can influence their adaptive and maladaptive responses. Researchers recruited high-risk youth and collected data on community violence exposure, coping, and externalizing problems. Gender-specific analyses reveal that males benefit less from traditional coping strategies, while females did not. Identifying effective coping mechanisms and training exposed youth is essential to offsetting future externalizing problems such as delinquency and perpetuation of violence.

Learning Objectives:

1. Compare and contrast the effectiveness of approach and avoidant coping strategies
2. Discuss the role of gender in explaining the relationship between community violence exposure and future experiences of externalizing problems
3. Identify gender-specific coping strategies for high risk youth exposed to community violence

Course Outline:

• Read and understand Community violence in early adolescence: Assessing coping strategies for reducing delinquency and aggression
• Review the Course Description and Learning Objectives
• Reflect on the role of coping in the relationship between experiencing community violence and subsequent delinquency and aggression across genders
• Work through the post-test questions; keep in mind that answer selections should be derived from the respective article
• Return to the referenced article for any missed questions and/or to better understand how strengthening coping skills can ameliorate the relationship between community violence exposure and future externalizing problems

Approvals: