O3246: Support is Spatial: How Proximity to Community Assets and Trauma Reminders Shape Well-Being Among Black Youth

Background: Structural risk factors of community violence exposure (CVE) disproportionately affect Black youth and are associated with heightened post-traumatic stress (PTS). Current research gaps include using retrospective design, emphasizing risk factors over promotive factors, and not capturing fluctuations of various activity spaces and contexts. The current study addresses these gaps by mapping how real-time proximity to different community assets relates to well-being among Black youth affected by CVE.

Methods: Black youth (ages 14-19) who witnessed community violence within the past 90 days completed brief, real-time ecological momentary assessment (EMA) surveys on smartphones three times daily for 2-4 weeks. Surveys captured real-time longitude, latitude, PTS symptoms, feelings of security (feeling comfortable, relaxed, and safe), and place-based trauma reminders (How much does this place remind you of the traumatic event that recently occurred?). Asset density from public data was mapped and calculated within 1-, 5-, and 10-minute walking buffers around EMA locations (Figure 1). Asset categories included transportation, education, parks, faith-based places, health services, housing, food resources, personal care services (barbershops, hair salons, nail salons), and social infrastructure (community organizations, support centers). Multilevel models using group-mean centering on individual participants estimated associations of asset density with PTS and feelings of security, controlling for age, gender, and parent education. Models assessed both between-person (individual mean) and within-person (momentary) variability. Interaction models assessed how place-based trauma reminders moderated associations of asset density with PTS and feelings of security.

Results: Forty Black youth (62% female, Mage=15.9±1.8) completed 940 EMA surveys. On average (individual mean comparisons), youth who had greater exposure to transportation (1,5,10-minute buffers), housing and personal care (5-,10-minute buffers), and food and parks (10-minute buffer) reported lower PTS and greater feelings of security (p < 0.05; Table 1). When youth were momentarily near food (1-,5-minute buffers) or transportation assets (5-minute buffer), they reported immediately lower PTS and greater security (p < 0.05). Place-based trauma reminders moderated associations between assets and PTS and feelings of security for transportation, education, faith (1-minute buffers), housing, food, parks, personal care (5-minute buffer), and health assets (10-minute buffer; p< 0.05).

Conclusion: Nearby community assets can promote well-being among Black youth exposed to violence, highlighting community strengths that can inform place-based policies. Community assets show varying associations with well-being; unexpectedly, education, faith, and social infrastructure assets were not significant. These findings emphasize the importance of uplifting youth’s perspectives, as traditionally valued assets may not reflect what youth find supportive. The momentary benefits linked to food and transportation access suggest that enhancing these resources could offer immediate benefits to well-being. Moreover, greater asset proximity may reduce the negative effects of trauma reminders from places. Ultimately, these findings show that investing in community assets and their accessibility can improve youth thriving.