Childhood and adolescent risk and protective factors for violence in adulthood

Abstract

Purpose We use data from a community sample followed from ages 8 to 48. We focus on the main and risk-buffering effects of childhood and adolescent protective factors for predicting adulthood violence (official records and self reports). Method Males (N=436) from the Columbia County Longitudinal Study participated. The youth, their parents, and peers were first interviewed when the youth were age 8; the youth were later interviewed at ages 19, 30, and 48. Results Risk factors for adulthood violence included higher aggression and lower family socioeconomic status at ages 8 and 19. Protective factors included anxiety about behaving aggressively (ages 8 and 19), popularity (ages 8 and 19), family church attendance (age 8), lower negative family interactions (age 8), and higher educational aspirations (age 19). For youth with at least one risk factor, the sum of adolescent—but not childhood--protective factors reduced the likelihood of adulthood violence. The most critical adolescent risk-buffering protective factors were anxiety about behaving aggressively and educational aspirations. Conclusions Aggression and low family SES, even by age 8, place youth at risk for adulthood violence. Interventions to strengthen critical protective factors must continue into late adolescence to reduce the likelihood of adulthood violence among at-risk youth.

Family Instability and Exposure to Violence in the Early Life Course

“…We had hypothesized that such changes could translate into stress and distraction in parents’ lives, making them less able to parent in ways that limit young people's exposure to violence (e.g., Osborne & McLanahan, ). Family structure changes could also play a role in the degree to which young people disclose risk to parents as well as how they spend their time and with whom (Dubow et al., ; Smetana, ). Together, these shifts in parent and youth behavior and the parent–youth relationship during adolescence could contribute to young people's exposure to violence.…”

Experiences of violence among adolescent girls and young women in Nairobi’s informal settlements prior to scale-up of the DREAMS Partnership: Prevalence, severity and predictors

“…Urban informal settlements have been associated with high levels of poverty, crime and violence, poor health outcomes-including HIV/AIDS-as well as poor access to basic services such as schools and health care facilities. Past studies have found strong association between violence experience and poverty at the household [9,12] and community levels [9,13,14], a major characteristic of the urban informal settlements.…”

Risk factors for youth violence: Youth violence commission, International Society For Research On Aggression (ISRA)

“…Many factors associated with gender likely contribute to this difference, but biological differences and perceptions of control or power associated with masculinity norms may contribute (Kimmel & Mahler, 2003). Aggressive behavior early in childhood. One of the most consistent findings of longitudinal research conducted over the past 50 years has been that early aggressive behavior predicts later aggressive, antisocial, violent, and criminal behavior (Dubow, Huesmann, Boxer, & Smith, ; Dubow, Huesmann, Boxer, & Smith, ; Dubow, Huesmann, Boxer, Smith, & Sedlar, in press; Huesmann, Eron, & Dubow, ; Huesmann, Eron, Lefkowitz, & Walder, ). In other words, children displaying more physically aggressive behavior are more likely to grow up to be adults displaying more violent behavior. Personality and emotion regulation.…”