Malleable and Static Risk Factors Associated with Boys’ Patterns of Interpersonal Violence: A Latent Class Analysis

Abstract

Despite an increased risk of committing and experiencing violence among adolescent boys, little is known about either how different types of violence co-occur within individuals or their association with different risk factors. This study used a person-centered approach to (1) identify patterns in boys’ perpetration and victimization across a range of 7 types of interpersonal violence (bullying, electronic aggression, sexual harassment/aggression; and psychological/ physical/sexual dating violence); and (2) examine the association of these patterns with 12 risk factors at the individual, relational, and community level to inform future prevention efforts. We used latent class analysis to identify patterns of violence among a diverse sample of 239 adolescent boys from 12 schools in 4 regions of the United States. Four classes were identified: The LOW-ALL group (36.4% of the sample) described boys unlikely to commit or experience any forms of violence. The PERP-MULTI group (20.9%) included boys with a high probability of committing bullying and sexual harassment and a relatively lower probability of experiencing sexual harassment. The EQUAL-PEER-SH group (33.5%) described boys with a high probability of both committing and experiencing sexual harassment, bullying, and electronic aggression. The smallest group of boys, labeled HIGH-ALL (9.2%), were at a high probability of committing and experiencing nearly all types of violence examined. We used weighted multiple-group analysis to compare risk factors across the latent groups identified. Attitudes supporting violence, internalized traditional masculinity, delinquency, school withdrawal, and both family and community violence exposure were significantly higher in groups with a high likelihood to commit various types of violence. These findings provide practical guidance for enhancing universal and selected violence prevention efforts for adolescent boys.