Evaluation of the Effects of the Aban Aya Youth Project in Reducing Violence among African American Adolescent Males Using Latent Class Growth Mixture Modeling Techniques

This study employs growth mixture modeling techniques to evaluate the preventive effects of the Aban Aya Youth Project in reducing the rate of growth of violence among African American adolescent males (N = 552). Results suggest three distinct classes of participants: high risk (34%), medium risk (54%), and low risk (12%) based on both the participants’ initial violence scores and their growth of violence over time. Results further show significant effects (almost 3 times as large as the effect found in the regular one-class analysis) for the high-risk class but not for the medium- or low-risk classes.