Immigrants more likely to become violent in U.S., study shows

Researchers at Northeastern University have found that the longer teenagers who have immigrated from other countries live in the United States, the more likely they are to commit acts of violence, according to a Feb. 6 Boston Globe article.

After studying the results of a survey of more than 1,300 Boston teenagers, the researchers concluded “that local high school students who arrived recently from foreign countries are significantly less violent than their American-born counterparts,” The Globe reported.

As the immigrants spent more time in the United States, their behavior became increasingly violent. The trend helped explain why recent immigrants have a lower incarceration rates than native citizens.

The Harvard Youth Violence Prevention Center, part of Harvard’s School of Public Health, conducted the survey in 2008, which asked participating students if they had punched, beaten or harassed fellow students in the last 30 days.

Forty-two percent of surveyed students who had been in the country four years or more responded positively to committing physical violence, compared with only 19 percent of students born outside the U.S. who had been in the country for less than four years.

In addition to second- and third- generation students, the survey included students hailing from a variety of countries, including the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Cape Verde, Haiti and China.

Researchers told The Globe they now plan to study why the students’ behavior changed so quickly.

Valerie Batts, the executive director and founder of Visions Inc., a Roxbury-based group promoting diversity and inclusion, told The Globe that young men born in other countries have said they felt the need to bully other students or even carry a gun to avoid becoming victims.

Barbara Ferrer, the executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission, attributed some of the quick change in students’ violence to violent images on television, in movies and in advertising.