Role Models As Protective Factors for Violence Among Low-Income, Urban Youth

Introduction: Youth violence is an important public health problem; large disparities exist among subgroups of the population. Violence is the leading cause of death for young African American males. We investigate how youths’ positive perceptions and experiences with role models affect their experiences of violence (perpetration and victimization) among a predominately low-income African American youth sample. Previously, researchers found youth violence associated with perceptions of role models; however, understanding the mechanism of this relationship requires further study. In the past, researchers found self-esteem to be a protective factor of youth violence. Using a social cognitive theory and resiliency theory framework, we examined the relationship between pro-social role models and youth violence, hypothesizing that self-esteem is a mediating variable and amount of time spent with pro-social role model is a moderating variable.

Methods: Youth (14-20 years old) presenting to a Level-1 Emergency Department in an urban, low-resourced setting self-administered a computerized survey as part of the baseline survey for a larger violence intervention study. Using validated measures, we conducted descriptive and bivariate analysis and logistic regression evaluated the influence of a pro-social model on risk for violence.

Results: About 70% (n = 288; 183 female, 105 male; average age = 17.6 years) of participants reported having a role model (84% female role model, 73% male role model). We found that having a female role model who was perceived as more pro-social was protective for recent violence (OR: 0.3, p ≤ .01); yet, the interaction effect of the amount of time spent with that role model was not found to be significant (p = .18). Additionally, participant self-esteem was found to mediate pro-social female role models and violence (c = -1.14, p ≤ .01) with higher self-esteem related to lower violence. A more pro-social male role model was not protective against violence involvement (p = .84) and self-esteem did not mediate this relationship (p = .46).

Conclusions: These findings indicate that some youth may have lower rates of violence perhaps because they have high self-esteem, which is associated with having a more pro-social female role model. To protect vulnerable populations, community-driven positive mentor programs should focus on how role models can increase youth self-esteem. Such interventions could help decrease youth violence, above and beyond the specific environmental and community contexts that promote violence. Furthermore, future research is needed to better understand the relationship between male role models and youth violence, and how pro-social male role models can be better equipped to help decrease this substantial burden.