The cultural persona as nexus between structural marginalization and youth risk behavior.

Structural marginalization exerts its effects through multiple social-ecological levels down to the individual behavior of youth violence and related risks. However, there is very little research or theoretical literature documenting or specifying mechanisms, paths, and linkages across levels. This paper traces one path in which long-term structural constraints intersect with the adolescent development process via a construct called the cultural persona-a form of archetype or model that embodies the value-structure, role, and performance of violence and related risk behavior within the kinds of underground or street economies that develop and persist in high-poverty communities as an outcome of structural marginalization. This mechanism is described, together with its limitations, along with examples and recommendations for interventions and further research.