Article Critique: Secondary Exposure to Violence During Childhood and Adolescence: Does Neighborhood Context Matter? By Chris L. Gibson, Sara Z. Morris & Kevin M. Beaver



Article Critique

What Type of Peer Reviewed Journal Article is this?

The article, "Secondary Exposure to Violence DuringChildhood and Adolescence: Does Neighborhood Context Matter?" by the authors and researchers, Chris L. Gibson, Sara Z. Morris and Kevin M. Beaver published in the Justice Quarterly: Volume 26, Number 1, in 2009, is a peer reviewed journal article, which may be categorized as a research article reporting on experimental and theoretical results in some major aspects of exposure to secondary violence for the youths of America, within the context of neighborhood dynamics.

The Quality of the Journal

This article has been reviewed in almost 60 related articles ever since the date of its publication which is 2009 up to the year 2012. According to the Florida State University database, this article is a 'High Profile Publication' in the year 2012. The research of the article was funded by the Georgia Southern University, as it provided the authors with a research grant.

"Justice Quarterly's 5 year impact in the year 2008 5-year was 1.922, and it ranked 7th out of 31 journals from the Thomson Reuters Social Science Citation Index in the Criminology and Penology Category."(ACJS, 2012).

Chris L. Gibson, the main author of this article is an Assistant Professor with the University of Florida, whose reseacrh mainly focuses on child behavior and development in context to neighborhood structures.

Theories or Hypotheses of the Research

The researchers determined that the rates of exposure to secondary violence in adolescents are higher in certain neighborhoods which house young immigrants. Moreover, they stated that children and youths between the ages of 12 to 17 experience higher rates of violence in the United States, especially those who live in “disadvantaged neighborhoods.” However, they also expressly stated that the rate of exposure to violence has been declining in the United States according to a research carried out by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) (Klaus & Rennison, 2002).

Research Method

The study used a quantitative research design by using questionnaires to obtain the needed information. The questionnaire format allowed the researcher to obtain information in a relatively anonymous fashion and thus making the information more valid. Acknowledging that their private information would be used strictly for research purposes, participants voluntarily provided answers for the study. Quantitative research methods permit a researcher to obtain samples ...