College of Behavioral & Social Sciences
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The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations..
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Item Structural barriers explain the link between negative community re-entry experiences and motives for illegal behavior in street-identified Black men and women(Wiley, 2023-10-17) Bounoua, Nadia; Sadeh, Naomi; Payne, Yasser A.; Hitchens, Brooklynn K.This study examines how the re-entry process is related to structural barriers in the community and to motives for engaging in illegal behavior—two key risk factors for recidivism. We analyzed survey data collected on perceptions of community re-entry, employment opportunities, neighborhood violence, and illegal behavior motives from 379 formerly incarcerated and street-identified Black-American community members residing in Wilmington, Delaware (Mage = 32.3/8.9 years old; 77.0% men; 100% Black) by employing Street Participatory Action Research (Street PAR) methodology. We found that negative perceptions of re-entry correlated positively with (i) hardship caused by structural barriers in the community, specifically blocked employment opportunities and neighborhood violence, and (ii) motives for engaging in illegal behavior. Notably, the link between negative perceptions of re-entry and motives for illegal behavior became significantly weaker when the influence of structural barriers on these individual-level factors was included in a multivariate model. Results suggest negative views of the re-entry process reflect the resource-scarce and stressful environments people are living in, and structural barriers can account for the relationship between negative re-entry experiences and why individuals are motivated to engage in illegal behavior. Findings underscore the importance of improving the economic conditions of communities with high numbers of returning citizens.Item Mothering in the streets: Familial adaptation strategies of street-identified Black American mothers(Wiley, 2022-05-18) Hitchens, Brooklynn K.; Aviles, Ann M.; McCallops, KathleenObjective: Using components of the Family Adjustmentand Adaptation Response Model, Critical Race Feminism, and Sites of Resilience, this study explored how street-identified Black American mothers engage in street life, while juggling the pressures of child rearing, family, and home life within a distressed, urban Black community. Background: Street-identified Black American mothers are vilified for their intersecting identities of being Black women who are experiencing poverty, and who may also be involved in illegal activity. Black mothers are disproportionately represented in the criminal legal system, but existing research has inadequately examined how street-identified Black mothers “do” family in the confines of structural violence. Method: We addressed this gap by analyzing interview data with 39 street-identified Black American mothers ages 18 to 54. Data were collected using street participatory action research. Results: We identified a typology of three adaptive mothering strategies employed by street-identified Black women as they respond to and cope with violent structural conditions shaping their mothering: constrained mothering, racialized mothering, and aspirational mothering. Conclusions: Findings suggested that these strategies were developed in response to an overarching carceral apparatus, of which these mothers were tasked with avoiding when possible and confronting when necessary. Their mothering strategies were shaped by a collective, Black American cultural identity and worldview, and the mothers possessed a unique way of perceiving the world as criminalized subjects with disproportionate proximity to the punitive state.