A new study by the 电子游戏软件 School of 社会工作 cites violence as the most significant threat to the personal safety of emerging adults—those 18 to 29 years old—in Massachusetts.
使这一威胁复杂化的是性别差异, 种族, 地理位置, which must be addressed through community-based violence prevention and intervention efforts, 根据BCSSW基于种族主义的暴力伤害的电子游戏正规平台人员所说 & 预防实验室.
小罗伯特·莫特利. (摄影:Caitlin Cunningham)
如果没有这样的努力, we stand to lose generations of future leaders and contributors to our society due to premature death or debilitating mental illness,合著者写道.
使用公开数据制作，”A 21st-Century Look at Threats to the Personal Safety of Emerging Adults in Massachusetts” is the first comprehensive report on the prevalence of interpersonal and self-directed violence—such as homicide, 自杀, 药物滥用, police-involved事件, 还有自残——在该州新兴的成年人口中, 助理教授小罗伯特·莫特利说. 他是该实验室的主任，也是这项电子游戏正规平台的首席电子游戏正规平台员.
“It not only sheds light on the violence that emerging adults in Massachusetts experience but provides community-based mental and behavioral health organizations and 政策 leaders with the locale of where the violence is most prominent,他补充道. “These findings should inform 政策 and preventive/interventive methods targeted in these geographic areas to reduce the prevalence and deleterious impact of violence on the health and well-being of emerging adults residing in these specific locations.”
与莫特利共同撰写这项电子游戏正规平台的实验室成员是丽贝卡·西迪奇, Awanti Acharya, 埃里克·威廉姆森, 丹尼尔T. 沃克和凯西·L. 账单.
The impact of violence on Massachusetts emerging adults mirrors many national trends, the RB-VIP study notes: Among its findings is that emerging-adult males experience considerably higher rates of homicides than females in the same group, and Black emerging adults account for higher rates of homicides than their counterparts from other ethnic groups. The report also found disproportionate rates of police contacts and police use of both lethal and non-lethal force involving Black emerging adults in Massachusetts, 而马萨诸塞州的大多数自杀者都是白人.
These incidents of violence do not occur equally across the state, the RB-VIP team notes. 例如, the homicide rate among emerging adults during 2015-2019 was greatest in 萨福克郡 and Hampden counties (in a range of 40.58 to 88.每10万人中有58人死亡)，而汉普郡、米德尔塞克斯郡和诺福克郡(每10万人中有58人死亡).01 to 10.62). Barnstable County recorded the highest rate of 自杀 among emerging adults (70.46 to 133.96 per 100,000) during 2010-2014 and 2015-2019; 普利茅斯 County showed a persistent rate of 56.8 to 70.每100人中有4人自杀,在这两个时期都有000名新生成年人, 而米德尔塞克斯, 萨福克郡, 诺福克的失业率为0.01 to 45.10.
普利茅斯, Barnstable, and Bristol counties also had the highest rates of emergency department visits for non-fatal drug overdoses—2,507 to 3,755 / 100,在2016-2019年期间，新兴成年人中有000人.
"The goal is to present the findings to leaders of community and college/university-based mental and behavioral health organizations, 政策, and law enforcement agencies in the locations where we see the highest rates of interpersonal and self-directed violence, in an effort to augment dialogue and strategic planning to address the issues we have documented.”
As part of their examination of both fatal and non-fatal incidents involving police, the researchers used GIS technology to create a visual map showing the incidence of non-fatal police contacts across Boston neighborhoods. 地图上的数据显示，比肯山, 洛伍德, 使命山, and parts of Roxbury and Dorchester had the highest number of police contacts for Black, 白色, 西班牙裔新生成人. 在整个波士顿，黑人新生成人占80.36%中的7%,359 reported police contacts involving use of non-lethal force during 2015-2019, 与白色相比(17.2)和西班牙语(2).1). 与女性相比，更多的男性(92%)报告曾与警方联系.
Accordingly, 马特里说 the lab plans to share the report where it may have the most impact. “The goal is to present the findings to leaders of community and college/university-based mental and behavioral health organizations, 政策, and law enforcement agencies in the locations where we see the highest rates of interpersonal and self-directed violence, in an effort to augment dialogue and strategic planning to address the issues we have documented.”
Emerging adulthood is a relatively recent addition to the developmental life stages used as a reference tool by researchers and practitioners in psychology, 社会工作, 以及相关领域. 它是由心理学家Jeffrey Jensen Arnett在2004年提出的, based on his series of interviews with 18- to 29-year-olds during the late 1990s, and reflecting major societal changes that occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, 包括技术进步和女性角色的扩大. 这个术语描述的是一个不稳定的时期, 青春期的过渡, 身份的探索, 以及在爱的领域中感知到的可能性, 教育, 和工作. 新兴的成年人, 据专家介绍, 花更多的时间完成他们的教育, 稍后结婚生子, 并经历更长的过渡到稳定的工作.
正如BCSSW电子游戏正规平台人员所指出的那样, this stage of life may be especially unstable for emerging adults who identify as male and/or a member of an ethnic minority group, due to documented increases in the prevalence of violence exposure (interpersonal and self-directed) that pose a grave threat to the personal safety of this population.
“Emerging adulthood serves as a pathway for a healthy and stable transition to full adulthood,莫特利说。. “然而, 比如接触暴力等因素, 精神和行为问题, 以及缺乏支持和机会, 会成为成功转型的障碍吗.”
Despite the work of front-line organizations seeking to address all forms of violence and its impact on emerging adults’ health and well-being, 马特里说, “we need to evaluate our systems to ensure that we can better serve and protect the personal safety of our emerging-adult population and be willing to invest adequate resources in the areas where we are lacking. 我们必须制定和实施有针对性的政策, 实践, and services that promote healthy development among emerging adults and overall personal safety.”
有关种族主义暴力伤害的更多信息 & 预防实验室，请访问其 网站 或者在Twitter上关注实验室: @RBVIP_lab.
肖恩·史密斯|大学传播| 2022年7月