Street Efficacy and Attachments to Violent Peers: The Influence of Neighborhood Legal Cynicism

• In Event: Mechanisms of Neighborhood Informal Social Control

Abstract

Often viewed as harmful to adolescents’ wellbeing, attachments to violent peers nonetheless may foster a sense of security in certain contexts. Specifically, attachments to violent peers may enhance adolescents’ street efficacythat is, confidence in navigating precarious situationsin contexts bereft of adequate formal social control. Legal cynicism refers to a cultural frame in which law enforcement is viewed as illegitimate and incapable of ensuring public safety. Individuals residing in neighborhoods with high levels of legal cynicism therefore may rely on informal social control strategiesnamely, violencefor protection. Multilevel analyses of data from the Project on Human Development (PHDCN) indicate that although attachments to violent peers reduce adolescent street efficacy in neighborhoods with low levels of legal cynicism, in neighborhoods characterized by high levels of legal cynicism these attachments are associated with greater street efficacy. Our results therefore suggest that the consequences of attachments to violent peers are complex and depend on the context in which they are embedded.

Authors

• Aubrey L. Jackson, University of New Mexico

• Brian Soller, University of New Mexico

• Erin Coleman, University of New Mexico