Unpacking the relationships between impulsivity, neighborhood disadvantage, and adolescent violence : an application of a neighborhood-based group decomposition

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007–2013)/ERC Grant Agreement no. 615159 (ERC Consolidator Grant DEPRIVEDHOODS, Socio-spatial inequality, deprived neighbourhoods, and neighbourhood effects); and from the Marie Curie programme under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007–2013)/Career Integration Grant no. PCIG10-GA-2011-303728 (CIG Grant NBHCHOICE, Neighbourhood choice, neighbourhood sorting, and neighbourhood effects).Scholars have become increasingly interested in how social environments condition the relationships between individual risk-factors and adolescent behavior. An appreciable portion of this literature is concerned with the relationship between impulsivity and delinquency across neighborhood settings. The present article builds upon this growing body of research by considering the more nuanced pathways through which neighborhood disadvantage shapes the development of impulsivity and provides a situational context for impulsive tendencies to manifest in violent and aggressive behaviors. Using a sample of 12,935 adolescent from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) (mean age = 15.3, 51% female; 20% Black, 17% Hispanic), we demonstrate the extent to which variation in the association between impulsivity and delinquency across neighborhoods can be attributed to (1) differences in mean-levels of impulsivity and violence and (2) differences in coefficients across neighborhoods. The results of a series of multivariate regression models indicate that impulsivity is positively associated with self-reported violence, and that this relationship is strongest among youth living in disadvantaged neighborhoods. The moderating effect of neighborhood disadvantage can be attributed primarily to the stronger effect of impulsivity on violence in these areas, while differences in average levels of violence and impulsivity account for a smaller, yet nontrivial portion of the observed relationship. These results indicate that the differential effect of impulsivity on violence can be attributed to both developmental processes that lead to the greater concentration of violent and impulsive adolescents in economically deprived neighborhoods as well as the greater likelihood of impulsive adolescents engaging in violence when they reside in economically disadvantaged communities.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Low toxic maghemite nanoparticles for theranostic applications

Elena A Kuchma,* Peter V Zolotukhin, Anna A Belanova, Mikhail A Soldatov, Tatiana A Lastovina, Stanislav P Kubrin, Anatoliy V Nikolsky, Lidia I Mirmikova, Alexander V Soldatov* The Smart Materials Research Center, Southern Federal University of Russia, Rostov-on-Don, Russia *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: Iron oxide nanoparticles have numerous and versatile biological properties, ranging from direct and immediate biochemical effects to prolonged influences on tissues. Most applications have strict requirements with respect to the chemical and physical properties of such agents. Therefore, developing rational design methods of synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles remains of vital importance in nanobiomedicine.Methods: Low toxic superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) for theranostic applications in oncology having spherical shape and maghemite structure were produced using the fast microwave synthesis technique and were fully characterized by several complementary methods (transmission electron microscopy [TEM], X-ray diffraction [XRD], dynamic light scattering [DLS], X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy [XPS], X-ray absorption near edge structure [XANES], Mossbauer spectroscopy, and HeLa cells toxicity testing).Results: TEM showed that the majority of the obtained nanoparticles were almost spherical and did not exceed 20 nm in diameter. The averaged DLS hydrodynamic size was found to be ~33 nm, while that of nanocrystallites estimated by XRD was ~16 nm. Both XRD and XPS studies evidenced the maghemite (γ-Fe2O3) atomic and electronic structure of the synthesized nanoparticles. The XANES data analysis demonstrated the structure of the nanoparticles being similar to that of macroscopic maghemite. The Mossbauer spectroscopy revealed the γ-Fe2O3 phase of the nanoparticles and vibration magnetometry study showed that reactive oxygen species in HeLa cells are generated both in the cytoplasm and the nucleus.Conclusion: Quasispherical Fe3+ SPIONs having the maghemite structure with the average size of 16 nm obtained by using the fast microwave synthesis technique are expected to be of great value for theranostic applications in oncology and multimodal anticancer therapy. Keywords: magnetic nanoparticles, SPIONs, maghemite, theranostics in oncology, toxicity, RO

Legalization by Commodification: The (Ir)relevance of Fashion Styles and Brands in Street Gangster Performance

Throughout the history of gang ethnography, particular dress codes and fashion styles have always been perceived as representations of gang culture. However, since its beginning, many young men enjoyed gang fashion without ‘being’ a gang member. Today, an ever-growing global fashion industry transforms street styles into commodities which are sold to and consumed by a much wider audience than ‘the streets’ inhabitants. This endows street styles, and in this chapter gang fashion, with a semantic ambiguity. While keeping its criminal connotations, gang aesthetics are normalized in the commodification process. This process enables, for instance, consumers of gangsta rap to enjoy gang fashion, but the semantic ambiguity also renders ‘true’ gangster performance more difficult

Imagining violent criminals: an experimental investigation of music stereotypes and character judgments

Objectives: In criminal cases, prosecutors treat defendant-authored rap lyrics as an admission of guilt rather than as art or entertainment. Do negative stereotypes about rap music shape jurors’ attitudes about the defendant, unfairly influencing outcomes? Replicating and extending previous research (Fischoff Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 29(4), 795–805, 1999; Fried Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 26(23), 2135–2146, 1996; Dunbar et al. Public Policy, and Law, 22(3), 280–292, 2016), the current study begins to address these questions. Methods: Using an experimental approach, participants were presented with music lyrics and asked to make judgments about the person who wrote the lyrics. All participants read the same lyrics but were told they were from a country, heavy metal, or rap song, depending upon the condition into which they were randomly assigned. Again using random assignment, participants were provided with information about the race of the songwriter in a photo of a young man. Finally, participants were tasked with judging the character of the songwriter, including traits such as his violent nature and criminal disposition. Results: We find that writers of violent “rap” lyrics are perceived more negatively than writers who pen identical country and heavy metal lyrics. We also find that songwriter race matters; no differences in judgments were detected between the White and Black songwriters; however, when race information was not provided, participants who inferred the songwriter was Black judged him more negatively than participants who inferred he was White. Conclusions: These findings have implications for racial disparities in the criminal justice system