Associations of Neighborhood and Family Factors with Trajectories of Physical and Social Aggression During Adolescence

Abstract

Adolescents develop within multiple contexts that synergistically influence their behavior and health. To understand the simultaneous influence of neighborhood and family contexts on adolescents, this study examined relationships of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage, neighborhood social disorganization, family conflict, parent-child bonding and parental control with trajectories of physical and social aggression. The sample included 5,118 adolescents between ages 11 and 18 (50% female, 52% Caucasian) living in predominantly rural areas. Multilevel growth curve models showed an interaction between neighborhood disadvantage, family conflict and gender on the physical aggression trajectories. The interaction suggested more rapid processes of both increase in and desistance from physical aggression over time for boys with high neighborhood disadvantage and high family conflict, as well as a higher starting point, more gradual increase and slower process of desistance over time for girls in similar neighborhood and family contexts. Less parent-child bonding and less parental control also were associated with higher initial levels of physical aggression. For social aggression, an interaction between family conflict and gender showed girls with high family conflict had the highest initial levels of social aggression, with a more gradual increase over time for these girls compared to their male counterparts in high-conflict families or their female counterparts in low-conflict families. Less parent-child bonding was associated with higher initial levels and a faster increase over time of social aggression, and less parental control was associated with higher initial levels of social aggression. The findings suggest early family-based interventions may help prevent perpetration of both physical and social aggression during adolescence.

Developmental Differences in Early Adolescent Aggression: A Gene × Environment × Intervention Analysis

“…Although parental hostility is only one of several factors that render risk for increased aggressive behavior among adolescents, parental hostility is linked with a number of other factors also associated with risk (Farrington 2005). Thus, our findings likely extend to other domains of risk for aggressive behavior problems during adolescence such as low parental monitoring (Low et al 2012), psychological control (Murray et al 2014), and neighborhood and socioeconomic disadvantage (Karriker-Jaffe et al 2013). …”

Neighborhood disadvantage and physical aggression in children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of multilevel studies

“…Accordingly, the results of the current study revealed that other critical predictors of physical aggressive behavior, such as peer delinquency (Zimmerman & Messner, 2011) and parenting styles (Brody et al, 2001), may exert a greater influence on the outcome than neighborhood disadvantage among boys. Numerous studies have also found that neighborhood structural factors have indirect effects on aggression (Bernburg & Thorlindsson, 2007;Maimon & Browning, 2010;Obeidallah et al, 2004), acting synergistically with other factors in shaping the behavior of children and adolescents (Hart & Marmorstein, 2009;Karriker-Jaffe, Foshee, Ennett & Suchindran, 2013;Oberwittler, 2007). The imbalance between these factors or the differential vulnerability to risk environments between boys and girls may lead to varying effects of neighborhood disadvantage on the outcome (Kroneman et al, 2004).…”

A multi-level analysis of the impact of neighborhood structural and social factors on adolescent substance use

“…Social ecological theories (e.g., Bronfenbrenner, 1979) also emphasize the role of the neighborhood context in shaping development and also recognize the importance of other social influences, such as peer interactions and family processes. Guided by these theories, studies have increasingly examined the impact of neighborhood context on adolescent development (e.g., Ennett et al, 2008; Karriker-Jaffe et al, 2013; Lambert et al, 2004; Sampson, 2012; Tobler et al, 2009; Zimmerman and Messner, 2011). …”