Community violence and externalizing problems: moderating effects of race and religiosity in emerging adulthood

The present study examined racial differences in the relationship between exposure to community violence and public and private religiosity in predicting externalizing problems among at‐risk emerging adults. Participants were 178 African American and 163 European American emerging adults at risk for exposure to community violence. Exposure to community violence related to more externalizing problems. Greater public religious affiliation buffered the relationship between community violence and substance abuse, for both African American and European emerging adults. In addition, more privately religious African American emerging adults engaged in less deviant behavior when exposed to higher levels of community violence. European Americans were not protected by private religiosity. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.