Ráchael A. Powers

Although racial and ethnic differences in offending are well-established, the processes associated with those relationships for U.S. Hispanic persons are less known. Using a nationally representative sample of U.S. Hispanic adults, the current study contributes to the literature by focusing on three factors thought to be particularly salient for understanding offending among U.S. Hispanic persons: acculturation, ethnic identity, and discrimination. We examine the association of each of these with offending, as well as the potential interactions between them. We found that acculturation and discrimination were positively associated with violent and nonviolent offending and ethnic identity was associated with nonviolent offending. For nonviolent offending, there was a positive interaction between acculturation and discrimination, such that experiences of discrimination intensified the relationship between acculturation and nonviolent offending. Findings are discussed in relation to both individual and contextual factors that are associated with health and behavioral outcomes, including offending, for U.S. Hispanic persons.

Although the use of self-defense is common in incidents of intimate partner violence (IPV), correlates of self-protective behaviors in IPV are less known. Furthermore, while research has examined the unintended consequence of dual arrest as a result of using self-defense in IPV incidents, research has not examined whether self-defense is associated with the likelihood of reporting the victimization to the police. The purpose of this study is to first examine the racial differences in the use of self-defense in incidents of IPV. Second, this study examines the relationship between the use of physical self-defense and formal help-seeking (i.e., calling the police) and whether those relationships vary across race/ethnicity for White, Black, and Hispanic women. Using a large nationally representative sample of IPV incidents in the United States, this study found that incidents with Black female victims were more likely to feature physical self-defense compared to incidents with White female victims. Furthermore, incidents with Black female victims were more likely to be reported to the police. There was a positive relationship between physical self-defense and reporting to the police for Black women and an inverse relationship between physical self-defense and reporting to the police for Hispanic women.