Racial/Ethnic Differences in Trajectories of Aggression in a Longitudinal Sample of High-Risk, Urban Youth (original) (raw)
Related papers
American Journal of Criminal Justice, 2010
This study sought to identify trajectories of physical aggression among urban Hispanic youth, and to examine the effects of risk and protective factors at age 11 on trajectories of physical aggression over time (ages 12-18). Relying on data from 731 urban Hispanic adolescents from Project Northland Chicago (PNC), latent trajectory modeling was used to determine the number of trajectories, and multinomial logistic regression was used to identify the predictors associated with trajectory membership. The results suggested five trajectories of physical aggression (nonaggressive, low stable, escalators, early-rapid desistors, and high aggression/moderate desistors). After adjusting for several risk and protective factors, language preference (e.g. speaking Spanish at home) was identified as a protective factor, while indirect exposure to alcohol, sadness/ depression, fewer negative alcohol-related attitudes, and threatening to fight were associated with increased risk for physical aggression. Study implications indicate that early, multilevel prevention efforts are necessary to deter the initiation and promote the desistance of physical aggression over time among urban Hispanic adolescents.
Personal and Environmental Predictors of Aggression in Adolescence
Brain Sciences, 2021
This study aims to find causal factors of aggression in a group of Latino adolescents to achieve a greater understanding of human nature, taking into account personal and contextual variables. The fundamental hypothesis is that moral disengagement, personality traits, self-esteem, values, parenting, sex, and socioeconomic situation can function as possible casual factors of aggression in adolescents. The study examined the variables using the structural equations model (SEM) to determine causal factors of aggression in a sample of 827 adolescents (54% men and 46% women) between 11 and 16 years of age. According to the scientific literature review, sociodemographic, personal, and familiar variables were included in the causal model. The influence of the variables occurred in two ways: one that inhibits aggression and the other that reinforces it. The results are discussed based on identifying protective and risk factors against aggression: biological sex and values of conformity and transcendence as aggression’s inhibitors and, on the other hand, openness, moral disengagement, and leadership values as the most important predictors of aggression.
Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 2010
Several studies have investigated factors associated with physical aggression during adolescence. Yet, little is known about the longitudinal relationship between drug use, particularly alcohol use, and physical aggression among minority youth. The present study examined the effects of alcohol and substance use at age 11 on trajectories of physical aggression over time (ages 12-14) among urban adolescents from Chicago, IL. Data from the Project Northland Chicago (n = 3038, 49.4% female) was used. The current study sample included 1,160 Black, 1,015 Hispanic and 863 White/ other adolescents for a total of 3,038 adolescents. Four trajectories of physical aggression were identified: Non-aggressive (16%), Desistors (9%), Escalators (20%) and Chronic Aggressive (55%). After adjusting for physical aggression behaviors, delinquent friends, lack of supervised time, demographic variables, smoking and marijuana use, past year alcohol users at age 11 were 2.1 times more likely to be "Escalators" and 1.9 times more likely to be in the "Chronic Aggressive" group. Gender and ethnic differences were also observed in the trajectories of physical aggression. Black youth were 2.5 times more likely to be in the "Chronic Aggressive" group. Findings highlight the importance of targeting alcohol prevention to reduce physical aggression among urban young adolescents.
Journal of abnormal child psychology, 2007
The current 5-year accelerated longitudinal investigation modeled the developmental trajectories of aggressive behaviors in 10,107 predominantly minority (>70%; African American, American Indian, Asian American, and Hispanic) children and early adolescents (Kindergarten through 8th grade, 49% female youth) from lower to lower-middle socioeconomic strata. Based on a two-part latent growth model, findings suggest that the probability and frequency of aggressive behavior use decreases slightly (linear) through the elementary school years and then increases as children move into middle school (quadratic). Though mean level differences were found across ethnic and racial groups, socioeconomic strata, and particularly by sex at initial status, rates of change over time across all groups were invariant. Findings suggest that potential socialization differences, if any, occur pre-Kindergarten in all groups.
Journal of Community Psychology, 1999
s This study examined perceived social environment and personal control variables as predictors of interpersonal aggression in urban minority youth. Perceived environmental factors included neighborhood risk, friends' delinquency, and parental monitoring practices, which were examined as direct predictors of aggression and as indirect predictors mediated by anger control skills and risk-taking characteristics. The sample consisted of 452 primarily African-American sixth-graders attending New York City public schools. Structural equation modeling indicated that better perceived parental monitoring practices were directly associated with less aggression and had an indirect effect that was mediated by better anger control skills. Perceived neighborhood risk and friends' delinquency were directly associated with more aggression and had indirect effects that were mediated by greater individual risk-taking. Implications of these findings for prevention interventions are discussed.
Factors Related to Aggressive and Violent Behavior among Preadolescent African-American Boys
International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 2001
Drawing on theoretical and empirical studies, this paper hypothesized that attitudes towards the use of violence and the use of aggressive and violent behavior among preadolescent African American males would be affected by verbal aggression in the home, violence observed in the community, family environment, and peer models. Data on aggressive and violent behavior and attitudes among young African American males were available from a larger project designed to improve self-esteem, decision skills, and interpersonal competence, and encourage positive attitudes toward non-European cultures. A data set with ratings from behavior and protective factors was obtained for 152 boys aged 8 to 13. Ratings came from 85 group leaders over 3 project years. A consistent finding from the three analyses performed was that attitudes toward the use of violent and aggressive behavior and actual use of violence and aggressive behavior seems to increase with age, with the effect being stronger for attitudes than actual behavior. One analysis suggested no correspondence in the boys' actual attitudes and behaviors and the way they behaved in the after school groups, suggesting that the use of violent and aggressive behavior is context specific. Ratings by group leaders were not affected by family environment, exposure to violence in the community, peer relationships, or age. Findings from a second analysis strongly support an ecological-developmental perspective, as all factors except positive peer relationships had a highly significant impact on self-control. Family structure improved self-control, family arguments decreased self-control, and exposure to community violence decreased self-control. Peers, exposure to community violence, and family arguments significantly affected the boys' actual use of aggressive and violent behavior. The boys lived in five different areas of the city, suggesting that socialization in any single neighborhood was not responsible. Multivariate analyses reveal that the most important factors affecting self-control were family arguments and age, while the most important factors affecting aggressive and violent behavior were peer relationships and family arguments. The findings suggest that programs designed to reduce violent behavior may be more effective if they include parents. An appendix describes the measures used in the study. (Contains 4 tables and 14 references.) (SLD)
Explaining Racial and Ethnic Differences in Serious Adolescent Violent Behavior*
Criminology, 2003
This study explains raciawethnic differences in serious adolescent violent behavior using (I contextual model derived from prior urban, developmental, and criminological theory. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health, we compare involvement in serious violence among Asians. blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, and whites. Results indicate that statistical differences between whites and minority groups are explained by variation in community disadvantage (for blacks), involvement in gangs (for Hispanics), social bonds (for Native Americans), and situational variables (for Asians). The lesser involvement in violence among Asians compared to blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans is accounted for by similar factors. Differences in violent behavior among the latter three minority groups are not significant. Theoretical and policy implications of the findings are discussed.
Aggression, Victimization and Problem Behavior Among Inner-City Minority Adolescents
Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse, 2000
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among problem behaviors during early adolescence. Specifically this investigation examined the association between drug use and aggression among a sample of inner-city adolescents. Eighth graders (N = 517; 49% boys) attending three New York City schools completed an anonymous questionnaire. Self-reported aggressive and unsafe behavior were associated with initiation of drug use (smoking, drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana). Sex differences were also found for aggressive behavior, victimization, and unsafe behavior. The data have implications for prevention because reducing drug use might also decrease aggressive and unsafe behavior. Social competence skills training, which has been found effective in drug use prevention programs, can be expanded to cover aggressive behavior and engagement in unsafe behavior. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document
Developmental Psychology, 1992
Attribution theorists propose that negative actions of others perceived as intended elicit anger, and anger then functions as a motivator of hostile behavior. We examined the understanding of these attribution-affect-action linkages among young ethnic minority adolescents. Forty-four Latino and African-American middle-school children labeled as aggressive and a matched group of nonaggressives read causally ambiguous scenarios describing negative outcomes initiated by a hypothetical peer. They then made judgments about the peer's intentions, their own feelings of anger, and the likelihood that they would behave aggressively toward that peer. Concerning the relations between these variables, the data supported a mediational model of emotion as postulated by attribution theory. The implications of these findings for attributional change were discussed. This article was written while Sandra Graham was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, California, with support from the Spencer Foundation and the Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship for Minorities. We thank Ms. Willis Charles and the students of Washington Middle School for their patience and cooperation. Appreciation also is extended to Kaori Karasawa for her help with data analysis and to Bernard Weiner for his comments on an earlier version of this article.