Hopelessly Disadvantaged Like You: A Comparative Study of Disadvantaged Youth in Mobile and Medellin

Much research has examined hopelessness among impoverished urban neighborhoods in the U.S. This research has addressed many dimensions of hopelessness, including variation by race, associations with violence, as well as the origins of hopelessness. However, little research has focused on comparing the variation of these effects by country (i.e., comparisons of the urban disadvantaged experience in the U.S. with the urban disadvantaged in developing countries). Using two unique data sources, the Mobile Youth Survey (MYS) and a similar survey of disadvantaged adolescents in Medellin, Colombia, this study aims to comparatively examine the process of hopelessness among the “truly disadvantaged” at home and abroad. Keywords: Hopelessness, Concentrated Disadvantage, Adolescent Urban Experience, Mobile Alabama, Medellin Colombi