{"id":2514,"date":"2021-05-18T08:34:45","date_gmt":"2021-05-18T13:34:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/ccf\/?p=2514"},"modified":"2021-05-18T08:34:45","modified_gmt":"2021-05-18T13:34:45","slug":"staying-ready-staying-vigilant-staying-safe-hyperarousal-and-hypervigilance-in-african-american-male-adolescents-exposed-to-community-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/ccf\/2021\/05\/18\/staying-ready-staying-vigilant-staying-safe-hyperarousal-and-hypervigilance-in-african-american-male-adolescents-exposed-to-community-violence\/","title":{"rendered":"Staying Ready, Staying Vigilant, Staying Safe: Hyperarousal and hypervigilance in African American male adolescents exposed to community violence"},"content":{"rendered":"

By now it is well-known that Covid-19 exacerbates pre-existing economic and health\u00a0<\/em>inequities<\/em><\/a>, something clearly shown in the disproportionate rates of mortality, unemployment, and food and housing insecurity in African American communities during this pandemic. This paper reports\u00a0new research<\/a>\u00a0on another disparity that has been amplified by the pandemic \u2014 exposure of African American youths to community violence, often resulting in symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Analysis of the behaviors that protect youth from experiencing such violence suggests that educators and psychologists need to rethink their understanding and treatment of PTSD in this population.<\/em><\/p>\n

Even before the pandemic, as many as\u00a097 percent of African American youth\u00a0<\/a>in some highly disinvested urban communities had witnessed at least one incident of community violence over the course of adolescence. But in 2020, the U.S. saw the\u00a0largest single one-year surge\u00a0<\/a>in homicides since the government began compiling such records, with Chicago experiencing a\u00a037 percent increase\u00a0<\/a>in murders during the first half of 2020 compared to the first half of 2019. \u00a0These increases have disproportionately impacted Black communities. Violence exposure, compounded by elevated levels of deaths and hospitalization of loved ones, economic loss, food insecurity, and residential instability, has placed Black children and adolescents at the epicenter of loss during the pandemic. As students begin to transition back to in-person learning, school officials must be ready to respond to the effects of loss and trauma by relying on trauma-informed and trauma-responsive practices, rather than punitive discipline practices.<\/p>\n

For African American children and teens, the recent increase in community violence is compounded by the\u00a0stress of the pandemic<\/a>, rise in hate crimes, and disproportionate exposure to incidents of\u00a0police violence<\/a>\u00a0towards African American men and women, diminishing their sense of safety. \u00a0This makes even more urgent the need for research that can help us\u00a0understand and minimize<\/a>\u00a0the long-term negative effects of exposure to community violence on African American youth.<\/p>\n

It is important to put this violence into perspective. Research with nationally representative samples of adolescents demonstrates that 85% of African American adolescents show little to no engagement in delinquent and risky behavior, with only 7% engaging in high levels of delinquent\u00a0behavior<\/a>\u00a0and only 6% showing gang\u00a0affiliation<\/a>. Among all Americans, violent crime is clustered in areas of concentrated and severe poverty, but due to systemic racism and social stratification, African American Americans disproportionately reside in these\u00a0areas<\/a>. In some urban areas, for example, African Americans are almost four times more likely than other residents to live in neighborhoods where the poverty rate is 40% or\u00a0higher<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, engagement in violent behavior is not widespread even among African American youth in such severely deprived neighborhoods. Sociological research shows that violent crime in urban communities is concentrated in a very small network of\u00a0individuals<\/a>\u00a0linked to one another by co-engagement in violent crimes. In Chicago, for example, 70 percent of all non-fatal shootings occur in networks comprising less than 6 percent of Chicago\u2019s total\u00a0population<\/a>. But the activity of this small network affects everyone living in the neighborhood, so the\u00a0impact<\/em>\u00a0of violent crime by a small number of residents on African American youth\u2019s well-being is widespread.<\/p>\n

Individuals who have been exposed to community violence often develop symptoms of\u00a0Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder<\/a>\u00a0(PTSD), including a cluster of symptoms that characterize physiological hyperarousal. Hyperarousal symptoms are rooted in the body\u2019s neurophysiological response to stress, and an important component of a hyperarousal response is hypervigilance, which refers to a state of extreme alertness and awareness of one\u2019s surroundings.\u00a0 Hypervigilance enhances our ability to detect and react to threatening stimuli in our environment, while hyperarousal helps mobilize our body\u2019s resources to maximize survival in the face of\u00a0danger<\/a>. Psychologists agree that these are appropriate and advantageous responses to an emergency.<\/p>\n

However, hyperarousal and hypervigilance that persist after the emergency has passed have traditionally been considered to be\u00a0debilitating and maladaptive<\/a>. For youth exposed to community violence, posttraumatic hyperarousal can lead youth to overreact to perceived\u00a0threats<\/a>.\u00a0 As such, educators and psychologists see such reactions as\u00a0disruptive behaviors or hyperactivity<\/a>\u00a0that youths must be taught to overcome. But is it possible that maintaining a fairly constant level of hyperarousal and hypervigilance in the context of persistent community violence could actually be protective rather than maladaptive?<\/p>\n

That is certainly how some young men see it themselves. For example, in 2012 and 2013,\u00a0Smith and Patton (2016)<\/a>\u00a0conducted in-depth interviews with 37 young African American men in Baltimore, ages 18 \u201324, who had experienced the homicide death of a loved one. All the young men they interviewed were experiencing symptoms of PTSD, with hypervigilance the most frequently reported symptom.\u00a0 However, the young men themselves described their constant hypervigilance as a potent coping strategy to stay safe in adverse and unpredictable contexts. They called it \u201cbeing on point.\u201d Is it possible that behaviors psychologists have found to be pathological or debilitating for middle-class patients in relatively secure situations may be adaptive ways of navigating dangerous and unpredictable environments? Could hyperarousal and hypervigilance actually reduce an individual\u2019s exposure to community violence?<\/p>\n

In a new study, my colleagues and I sought to answer these questions.\u00a0 We collected survey data over a one-year period with a group of African American male high school students living in under-resourced urban communities in Chicago.\u00a0 We wanted to know if physiological hyperarousal symptoms, particularly hypervigilance, predicted less exposure to community violence over time. We also wanted to examine the impact of aggressive vs. avoidant responses to threats. The boys in our study reported on how frequently they witnessed community violence or were direct victims of community violence, how frequently they experienced physiological hyperarousal symptoms, and how frequently they engaged in aggressive behavior.<\/p>\n

Here is what we found:\u00a0First, 85 percent of the boys in our study reported experiencing symptoms of physiological hyperarousal, with hypervigilance (being overly careful or frequently checking to see who and what is around you) being the most frequently reported symptom.<\/strong>\u00a0These findings are consistent with research on African American\u00a0adult<\/a>\u00a0men<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Second, we found that higher levels of hypervigilance predicted less likelihood of witnessing community violence one year later, after controlling for initial levels of witnessing violence.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Hypervigilance may help youth<\/a>\u00a0to pick up on clues that an area is unsafe or that a violent incident between others is imminent. For African American boys in the current study, being vigilant, or even overly careful may have allowed them to avoid potentially dangerous situations or locations where violence might occur in their communities.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, however, such cautious avoidance tactics, while lessening the amount of community violence the boys\u00a0witnessed<\/em>, did not necessarily protect them from\u00a0experiencing<\/em>\u00a0violent victimization.\u00a0We found that higher levels of physiological hyperarousal predicted lower levels of victimization over time\u00a0only when boys also reported using high levels of physical aggression<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0Hyperarousal was protective only at high levels of physical aggression.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Earlier\u00a0studies<\/a>\u00a0have shown that physiological hyperarousal leads some young adult men to utilize aggressive means of self-protection and proactive posturing to reduce perceptions of vulnerability.\u00a0 Such behavior can be counter-productive in some settings, but our findings show that in unsafe and under-served communities, boys who are physiologically prepared via hyperarousal to respond to direct threats of violence, and who project a strong likelihood of responding aggressively to such threats, are more likely to avoid being victims of violence.<\/p>\n

These findings raise an important question about the many\u00a0interventions and treatment efforts<\/a>\u00a0that focus on reducing hyperarousal and other PTSD symptoms. Are we undermining or actually disabling needed survival strategies through our intervention efforts? And if so, will the young people we serve see our efforts as relevant for their daily life experiences?<\/p>\n

It is important to note that the responses shown by boys in the current study are not unique to the African American experience, but rather are rooted in the context of traumatic stress.\u00a0 Heightened, and even sustained, levels of physiological arousal and hypervigilance are shown by individuals exposed to other traumatic stressors, such as\u00a0sexual assault<\/a>,\u00a0combat<\/a>, and natural\u00a0disasters<\/a>.\u00a0 What is different about community violence exposure is that the trauma exposure is an ongoing and recurring threat, as opposed to existing only in the\u00a0past<\/a>.\u00a0In this context, \u201cpost\u201d traumatic stress symptoms may be a realistic response to \u201ccontinuous\u201d traumatic threat.<\/strong><\/p>\n

To work towards more effective and contextually relevant solutions for African American boys exposed to community violence, we need interventions that are sensitive to our finding that hyperarousal, hypervigilance, and aggressive responses to perceived threats may be protective in contexts of traumatic and unpredictable stressors. Rather than trying to eliminate these symptoms altogether, we might do better to focus on increasing youths\u2019 mindful awareness about what triggers these reactions and in what circumstances they are likely to be protective. Targeted interventions might help youths better distinguish between contexts where these symptoms and behaviors are adaptive (such as in interactions with potential threats in certain areas of their neighborhood) versus where they are not adaptive (such as in a work setting) and teach boys how to use them selectively. To ensure that interventions are relevant to the daily experiences of African American youth, intervention design efforts must utilize community-based participatory research strategies to enlist youth as active partners in a process where their voices and opinions are heard, valued, and honored.<\/p>\n

At the systems level, we need a more carefully calibrated approach in settings such as schools, where responses to these behaviors are often punitive and harmful. For example, exclusionary discipline policies are direct predictors of academic underachievement, high school dropout rates, contact with the juvenile and criminal justice\u00a0systems<\/a>, and criminal\u00a0victimization<\/a>, as well as criminal activity.\u00a0 Community violence exposure is a health issue, rather than a criminal justice issue.\u00a0 Given the traumatic nature of exposure to such violence, we need to work to understand what young people have experienced rather than punishing them for how they\u00a0react\u00a0<\/em>to what they have experienced.\u00a0 And of course, a primary goal of those working to community violence exposure should be to implement racially just policies that focus on economic and social investment in under-resourced communities to eradicate the underlying conditions that heighten violent crime.<\/p>\n

Acknowledgments\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The study discussed in this briefing paper is part of the January\/February 2021 special issue of the\u00a0Journal of Applied Development Psychology<\/em><\/a>\u00a0devoted to highlighting how boys and young men of color successfully adapt to adverse environments, and in particular, how the unique demands of various inhibiting contexts may shape adaptive behaviors through conditional adaptation. I would like to thank the co-authors of the study, Jenny\u00a0Phan<\/a>, Suzanna\u00a0So<\/a>, and Alvin\u00a0Thomas<\/a>.\u00a0 I would also like to thank\u00a0Stephanie Coontz<\/a>\u00a0for her invaluable assistance and feedback on this briefing paper.<\/p>\n

Noni Gaylord-Harden<\/a> is a Professor of Psychology at Texas A & M University.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By now it is well-known that Covid-19 exacerbates pre-existing economic and health\u00a0inequities, something clearly shown in the disproportionate rates of mortality, unemployment, and food and housing insecurity in African American communities during this pandemic. This paper reports\u00a0new research\u00a0on another disparity that has been amplified by the pandemic \u2014 exposure of African American youths to community […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2095,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30834],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research-reports"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/ccf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/ccf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/ccf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/ccf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2095"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/ccf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2514"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/ccf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2515,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/ccf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2514\/revisions\/2515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/ccf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/ccf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/ccf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}