Risk and Resilience in the Neighborhood: Examining the Social Determinants of Youth Violence and Mental Health and Wellbeing

Youth violence is as much of a public health issue as youth mental health and wellbeing. However, the stigma associated with youth violence goes beyond individual perpetrators of violence to mischaracterise entire neighbourhoods and communities.
The current project examines the social determinants of both youth violence and youth mental health and wellbeing in Bradford to identify the common risk and resilience factors underlying these key youth outcomes.
Prior research suggests that youth with mental ill-health are more vulnerable to experiencing or partaking in youth violence and vice versa. From a developmental psychology systems perspective, the relationship between youth violence and youth mental health and wellbeing is not merely unidirectional or bi-directional but rather a complex iterative/cumulative process. Untangling this relationship is therefore equally complex.
The current project focuses on an examination of shared risk “third variables” that are common predictors of both outcomes, which can provide much needed insight into potential targets for intervention.