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Examining Three Alternative Explanations for the Race/Ethnicity Disparities in Violent Victimization: Mediation, Moderation, and Contextual Effects

Madero Hernandez, Arelys N.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1406809741

Abstract Details

2014, PhD, University of Cincinnati, Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Criminal Justice.
Empirical studies have established that Blacks and Latinos are the most violently victimized of all racial/ethnic groups in the U.S., but the mechanisms that underlie these victimization disparities are not well understood. This dissertation builds an integrated model to draw attention to culturally-driven differences across racial/ethnic groups regarding criminal opportunities. It tests three alternative hypotheses developed from lifestyles and routine activities theory (LRAT)—mediation, moderation, and context—that may explain the disparities. First, it assess whether criminal opportunities mediate the effects of race/ethnicity on violent victimization. Second, it tests whether the strength and direction of the race/ethnicity–violent victimization relationship is contingent upon race/ethnicity. Finally, it investigates contextual effects that could explain away the relationship between race/ethnicity and violent victimization as an artifact of the residential concentration of minorities in high-risk neighborhoods. Using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN), the results revealed that Black and Hispanic adolescents were twice as likely as their White counterparts to be violently victimized, and these disparities remained after controlling for demographic characteristics and prior victimization. As to the hypothesized sources of these disparities, there was mixed evidence regarding the mediation hypothesis, because although criminal opportunity measures were significantly related with violent victimization, they failed to eliminate the victimization disparities. As to the moderation hypothesis, while the relationship between guardianship and violent victimization was contingent upon race/ethnicity, these effects did not equalize youth’s differential risks. Finally, the analysis revealed weak support to the context hypothesis, as none of the neighborhood-level indicators of criminal opportunities significantly affected violent victimization.
Bonnie Sue Fisher, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Nancy Rodriguez, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Christopher Sullivan, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Pamela Wilcox, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
255 p.
Criminology
Race, Ethnicity,Violent Victimization,Lifestyles and Routine Activity Theory

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Madero Hernandez, A. N. (2014). Examining Three Alternative Explanations for the Race/Ethnicity Disparities in Violent Victimization: Mediation, Moderation, and Contextual Effects [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1406809741

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Madero Hernandez, Arelys. Examining Three Alternative Explanations for the Race/Ethnicity Disparities in Violent Victimization: Mediation, Moderation, and Contextual Effects. 2014. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1406809741.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Madero Hernandez, Arelys. "Examining Three Alternative Explanations for the Race/Ethnicity Disparities in Violent Victimization: Mediation, Moderation, and Contextual Effects." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1406809741

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1406809741
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This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.