Coping and Buffering Effects for Black Adolescent Boys

Literature Review Critique
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Literature Review Critique
Understanding criminal behavior among specific individuals remains a primary objective of scholars in human behaviors as a breakthrough would steer proper developments in managing criminal behaviors. The purpose of this study is to look at how Black adolescent boys who have been exposed to violence cope and buffer. The first study indicated that, in keeping with theory, the more violence kids were exposed to, the more violent beliefs they accepted. They also discovered that non-victims/aggressive youth had greater anxiety profiles than non-victims/nonaggressive youth. This project will build on previous research by looking into ways to mitigate the consequences of community violence exposure. The critique will investigate how parental participation, school belonging, and coping as described by the Afri-cultural coping model modify the effects of community violence using a route analysis. The social learning theory developmental models define the scope and structure of the development of violent behaviors that corroborates the assertions in the initial research to warrant the validity of various coping strategies to inhibit the prevalence of criminal behaviors.
Social Learning Theory
Social learning theory has remained a benchmark in defining criminal behaviors and various coping models to criminal behaviors. The proponents of social learning theory integrated elements of cognitive and behavioral theories of learning. To offer a broader platform to understand a range of learning experiences in the real world. According to Grills and Ajei (2002), the introduction of the role of imitation in criminal behavior accorded the social learning theory insight into the development, mastery, and coping behaviors in criminology. Hence, social learning theory defines learning and criminal behavior through five tenets (Akers & Jennings, 2015). Primarily, the theory posits that learning is not purely behavioral. Rather, learning is a cognitive process whose outcomes are highly influenced by the social context in which an individual is positioned. This tenet conforms to the findings of the study that the more violent kids were exposed to, the more violent beliefs they accepted. Social learning theory also notes that learning can occur by observing behavior or consequences of a behavior (Tudge & Winterhoff, 1993). To that effect, if an individual is exposed largely to non-criminal/nonaggressive behaviors and or consequences, their behaviors draw largely confirmative.
The social learning theory defines three more tenets to mark the understanding of criminal behaviors among individuals. Principally, learning encompasses three steps in observational modeling. To learn elements of aggressive or nonaggressive behaviors, one must observe, extract the necessary information from what he/she observes, and make decisions (Bandura, 1969). Hence, learning can occur even without an observable change in the individual’s behavior. The theory emphasizes reinforcement as a principal tool in the adoption of criminal behaviors. Individuals develop behaviors considerably based on how specific behaviors are reinforced. If a particular b...