Depressive symptomatology, exposure to violence, and the role of social capital among African American adolescents

Focusing on the role of capital as both personal and social resources for adolescents, the authors examined depressive symptomatology among a sample of 10- to 18-year-old African American youths (N 1,538). In addition to gender and age differences, adolescents exposed to threatening environments (school, neighborhood, home) reported more depressive symptoms. Social capital had a significant inverse relationship with adolescent depression; self-esteem and a social capital index were negatively related to depressive symptomatology. Furthermore, the interaction effects of gender with social capital, age with self-esteem, and age with grades were significant, indicating the presence of a buffering effect. These findings suggest the importance of interrelationships among violence exposure, capital, and well-being for adolescents. Over the last several decades, we have witnessed a growing concentration of poverty and minority status in America’s inner cities—the ghettoization of pov-erty (Fitzpatrick & LaGory, 2000; Jargowsky, 1997; Wilson, 1987). This increasing isolation of the poor reflects a broader trend in society, described in Rob