Co-victimization among African-American adolescents.

The level of violent acts witnessed by African-American adolescents continues to be a major problem. For example, in a single southwest Michigan school system, 331 students were reprimanded for battery of other students, 69 for battery of employees, 150 for possession of a knife, 117 for possession of a gun, and 73 students for use of dangerous weapons. This review of the literature explores the general concept of co-victimization and its impact on African-American adolescents, and briefly reviews supporting social learning theory.