Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: There is a growing interest among youth development researchers about the relationship between the young people’s individual developmental needs and the crucial roles they play as civic actors. Increased interest in civic participation, particularly among youth, is largely encouraged by concerns raised by Putnam, who believes that America is experiencing dangerously low levels of civic, community and political participation (Putnam 2000). Civic engagement or civic participation can be described as a range of activities that strengthen social ties, builds collective responsibility and benefits society as a whole. Putnam noted, that 20-year-olds today are 50 percent- less likely to vote than 20-year-olds 60 years ago and therefore much less likely to participate in other forms of civic activities. However, there is growing evidence that supports the idea that young people in low-income communities are increasingly participating in civic and political activities.

This paper is guided by three objectives. First this paper builds knowledge through qualitative investigation about how youth in urban neighborhoods develop political awareness and participate in civic activities. The study details the community, familial, peer group and social influences on political and civic participation among African American youth ages of 15 and 25 develop in Oakland, California. Second the paper document interventions and organizational practices in schools, community centers, churches that shape civic and political participation. Third the paper advances sociological theory regarding youth political engagement by developing a framework that deepens our understanding of the relationship between urban environments and the development of political ideas among youth.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This is a report of one of four coordinated analyses from longitudinal data sets tracking development of youth in high-risk settings and analyzed to identify promising risk predictors, promotive factors for successful development, and protective factors in the face of risk factors. The current study utilizes the 8 waves of the Chicago Youth Development Study that followed 362 males residing in the inner-city, from ages 11 to 26, using interviews with parents and the child, observational data, and archival records to assess cognitive features and attitudes of the child, family functioning and stress, school conditions and engagement, peer relations, and neighborhood characteristics. These repeated measures are used to model risk for violent behavior using a risk and protective factors framework. In addition to initial steps to identify within sample contributors to risk, we also identify contributors that acted to significantly reduce risk for violence as a main effect (promotive factors) and protective and exacerbating factors defined by impact through interaction with risk or promotive influences. Results are presented with consideration of variation by community type based on extent of poverty and social problems (inner-city versus other urban-poor), ethnicity (African-American versus Latino), and marital status of parents/father involvement. Implications for identification of at-risk segments and preventive/promotive strategies for youth in high-risk communities will be discussed. In addition, how these findings are consistent with or vary from findings in the other presented studies will be discussed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Many contemporary conflicts are fuelled by youth. After war, young people are at once potential threats to peace and significant peacebuilding resources. Yet their roles as political activists and soldiers, as criminals and bandits, and as peace activists, remain understudied. The paper presents the results of a new body of original research on youth involved in these activities in nine transitional contexts. The countries studied were Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Guatemala, Colombia, Angola, Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Israel-Palestine. The project (directed by the author of this paper) examined youth combatants, their pathways into armed conflict, the costs and lessons of their involvement, and the reintegration challenges after accords. It collected and analyzed young people's subjective understandings of war, peace and peace processes. It examined specific activities of youth in support of peace and specific initiatives designed to engage youth in peacebuilding. Based on this research the paper develops new theory on the role of youth in peace processes and makes policy-relevant conclusions on engaging youth in peace education and peacebuilding programs.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Research by the author in the Pacific Island nations of Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia found evidence that demographic pressure created by rapid population growth results in a lack of employment opportunities for youths (who provide the majority of participation in civil unrest) rather than in direct pressure on land and other natural resources. In this paper the author will expand this hypothesis to explore the relationship between the 'youth bulge' and unemployment/underemployment in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Nepal. Using official unemployment data, the author examines what young men are doing with their time and the basis of their economic survival. This data is cross-classified by level of education and type of schooling. This information in turn is linked to developments in relation to political dissatisfaction from existing systems and the implications for the security of these societies and the security of the region more broadly.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Despite increasing evidence of the correlation between alcohol outlet density and youth violence, policy makers have continued ignore this evidence. This finding has policy implications for decreasing youth violence, specifically gang violence. To explore the relationship between alcohol outlet density and youth violence, data from the City of Riverside were used. The data were collected from police reports between 2000 and 2002. In order to analyze the three years of data a pooled cross section time series analysis was used. Besides alcohol outlet density, variables such as race, supervision, vacant housing units, and the percentage of residence in owner occupied homes were also included in this study. With the use of geospatial analysis the preliminary data indicate a significant relationship between alcohol outlet density and youth gang activity. There also appears to be a positive net effect between youth gang activity and Latino’s, the amount of supervision in an area, and the amount of vacant housing units. The preliminary results indicate a negative net effect between gang activity and the amount of housing that is owner occupied.