THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING OPPRESSION: AN EXAMINATION OF PERCEIVED CHILDHOOD NEIGHBORHOOD SAFETY & ITS EFFECT ON VIOLENCE IN YOUNG ADULTHOOD

While researchers are exploring neighborhood risk factors contributing to healthinequities, the impact of childhood neighborhood safety perceptions on future communityviolence (CV) experiences remains understudied, lacking in lived experiences and rigorousmethodologies. Employing a mixed-methods approach, this dissertation seeks to fill thisgap by illuminating the importance of race and place. Study 1 of the dissertation utilizes secondary data from The National LongitudinalStudy of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). This study identifies associationsbetween childhood neighborhood safety perceptions and experiences of communityviolence victimization (CVV) during young adulthood. It also explores effect modificationby race. Results showed that childhood perceptions that one’s neighborhood was safewere associated with lower odds of CVV in adulthood (OR: 0.70, 95% CI: 0.54, 0.90). Afteradjusting for covariates, this association was attenuated and remained in the samedirection (aOR: 0.81; 95% CI: 0.63-1.04). However, there was no statistically significantevidence of effect modification by race after conducting a stratified analysis and a design-adjusted joint test (F=1.29, df= 4, Pr > F= 0.28). Future research should further explorethe diverse determinants of safety perceptions using longitudinal data and examineindividual characteristics to target CVV prevention and reduction efforts. Study 2 of the dissertation utilizes 13 qualitative semi-structured interviews withBlack young adults who resided in the US South for the majority of their adolescence, toexamine definitions of felt safety, perceptions of CV, and the impact of place onexperiences with and perspectives of violence. Through my analysis, five themes surfaced:(1) safety determinants, (2) early felt safety and later outcomes, (3) the causes ofviolence, (4) the influence of the south, and (5) dreams of a new world. Our findingshighlight the need for addressing the root causes of violence and more effective violenceprevention and community safety efforts. Combined, these studies leverage population-level quantitative data with richperson-centered qualitative insights on perceived safety and causes of sustained CV. Themeta-inferences established from both studies underscore the urgent need to have moreeffective, community-based strategies aimed at reducing CV and CVV.