Peer factors as mediators of relations between exposure to violence and physical aggression in middle school students in a low-income urban community.

Abstract

Objective: Although prior research has demonstrated that peers influence both physical aggression and exposure to violence during adolescence, few studies have investigated the extent to which peers play a role in relations between physical aggression and violence exposure. This longitudinal study examined peer pressure for fighting, friends' delinquent behavior, and friends' support for fighting as mediators of relations between exposure to violence through witnessing and victimization, and adolescents' frequency of physical aggression. Method: Participants were 2,707 adolescents attending three urban middle schools (M age = 12.4; 52% female; 79% African American, 17% Hispanic/Latino). Participants completed measures of their frequency of physical aggression, witnessing community violence, victimization by violence, and negative life events, and peer variables at four waves within the same school year. Results: Cross-lagged analyses indicated that the role of peer variables as mediators varied as a function of the type of exposure and the direction of effects. Whereas peer pressure for fighting mediated relations between witnessing violence and changes in physical aggression, friends' delinquent behavior mediated relations between physical aggression and changes in witnessing violence and victimization. In contrast, violent victimization was not associated with changes in any of the peer factors when included in the same model as witnessing violence. Conclusions: These findings highlight the role of peers as both a cause and a consequence of adolescents' aggressive behavior and exposure to violence. They suggest focusing on peer variables as targets for interventions to disrupt connections between exposure to violence and physical aggression during early adolescence.

Relations between perceptions of parental messages supporting fighting and nonviolence and adolescents' physical aggression: Beliefs as mediators

“…This study focused on perceived parental messages. However, there are other factors within adolescents' lives, such as community and peer factors (Farrell, Pittman, Bettencourt, et al, 2022; Farrell, Pittman, O'Connor, et al, 2022; both based on longitudinal data from the current data set), that may impact their beliefs, which may then influence their behaviors. Although effect size estimates were small in this study, this is common in longitudinal studies when variables have high stability and concurrent cross‐variable correlations (Adachi & Willoughby, 2015).…”

“…An additional dimension supported in prior research (Farrell et al, 2019) is the belief that fighting is sometimes unavoidable. Studies have found that beliefs against fighting and beliefs supporting aggression predict changes in aggression (e.g., Farrell, Pittman, O'Connor et al, 2022, based on longitudinal data from the current data set; McMahon et al, 2013).…”

“…Studies based on analyses of data from this same project have examined bidirectional relations between violence exposure and physical aggression (Farrell et al, 2020), peer factors (Farrell, Pittman, Bettencourt, et al, 2022), and beliefs (Farrell, Pittman, O'Connor et al, 2022) as mediators, and peers (Coleman & Farrell, 2021) and adults (Coleman et al, 2023)…”

“…The current manuscript was based on analyses of longitudinal data collected from 10 cohorts of students as part of an 8‐year project. Studies based on analyses of data from this same project have examined bidirectional relations between violence exposure and physical aggression (Farrell et al, 2020), peer factors (Farrell, Pittman, Bettencourt, et al, 2022), and beliefs (Farrell, Pittman, O'Connor et al, 2022) as mediators, and peers (Coleman & Farrell, 2021) and adults (Coleman et al, 2023) as moderators of the relation between violence exposure and physical aggression. This study was supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development grant number 1R01HD089994, the National Institute of Justice, grant number 2014‐CK‐BX‐0009, and the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC Cooperative Agreement 5U01CE001956, R01CE003298.…”

Relations between youths' community violence exposure and their physical aggression: The protective role of adults

“…This manuscript was based on data from an 8-year project that collected longitudinal data within each school year from 10 cohorts of students attending three urban middle schools. Several prior manuscripts based on these data have examined bidirectional relations between exposure to violence and physical aggression (Farrell, Thompson, Curran, & Sullivan, 2020), peer factors as mediators (Farrell, Pittman, O'Connor, & Sullivan, 2022), and moderators (Coleman & Farrell, 2021) of relations between violence exposure and physical aggression, and beliefs as mediators of relations between violence exposure and physical aggression (Farrell, Pittman, Bettencourt, et al, 2022).…”