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

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine whether adults moderated the relations between youths' community violence exposure and subsequent physical aggression. Participants were 2575 middle school students (Mage = 12.3, SD = 1.00; 52% female) in the southeastern U.S. who completed surveys collected in the fall, winter, spring, and summer. The sample was predominantly African American (72%). High adult support was associated with weaker relations between exposure to violence in the fall and aggression in the winter among male adolescents. High adult support was related to weaker relations between victimization in the fall and aggression in the winter among female adolescents. Strategies promoting supportive adult relationships may benefit male adolescents by buffering the adverse impact of community violence exposure.

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

“…Previous studies have found that perceived parental support for fighting is a risk factor (e.g., Kramer‐Kuhn & Farrell, 2016; O'Connor et al, 2020), and perceived parental support for nonviolence is a promotive factor (e.g., Coleman et al, 2023, based on longitudinal data from the current data set; Garthe et al, 2015) for aggression. In a predominantly Black sample of middle school students, Kramer‐Kuhn and Farrell (2016) found that adolescents' perceptions of parental messages supporting fighting were positively related to physical aggression in sixth and eighth graders, but not in seventh graders.…”

“…The purpose of this study was to examine whether youths' beliefs about fighting mediated relations between perceived parental messages about fighting and nonviolence and subsequent changes in physical aggression. Although there is evidence that parental messages predict youths' aggression (e.g., Coleman et al, 2023), few studies have attempted to identify the underlying factors responsible for this relation. Overall, there was support for social norms theory, as reflected in a general pattern in which perceived parental messages about aggression predicted youths' beliefs about aggression, which predicted youths' physical aggression.…”

“…Its focus was on a predominantly Black sample of early adolescents living in underresourced communities burdened by violence. This focus is relevant because youths in these groups tend to be exposed to high levels of community violence, which is a predictor of aggression (e.g., Coleman et al, 2023).…”

“…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)…”

“…Its focus was on a predominantly Black sample of early adolescents living in underresourced communities burdened by violence. This focus is relevant because youths in these groups tend to be exposed to high levels of community violence, which is a predictor of aggression (e.g., Coleman et al, 2023). The middle school years represent an appropriate time to identify predictors of aggression given academic, emotional, and social changes (Buchanan & Bowen, 2008).…”