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                            Library & Multimedia
 Peer Factors as Mediators of Relations Between Exposure to Violence and Physical Aggression in Middle School Students in a Low-Income Urban Community
NCJ Number
              307202
Journal

*Psychology of Violence* Volume: 12 Issue: 3 Dated: 2022 Pages: 170-182
Author(s)
          Albert D. Farrell;
                        Sarah K. Pittman;
                        Kelly E. O'Connor;
                        Terri N. Sullivan
Date Published

2021
Length
              13 pages
Annotation
              This study examines the role of peer factors in mediating relations between exposure to violence and physical aggression in low-income, urban middle-class community.
Abstract
              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, as well as adolescents’ frequency of physical aggression. The 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.  Participants were 2,707 adolescents attending three urban middle schools (male = 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. 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. (Published Abstract Provided)
      
  
          Additional Details
Grant Number(s)
        2014-CK-BX-0009


  
  
        
  Agencies
        NIJ-Sponsored


  
  
        
  Publication Type
        Research (Applied/Empirical)


  
  
        
  Award
        Evaluation of the Effectiveness and Sustainability of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program in Increasing School Safety for Urban Low-Income Middle Schools
    
  
  
Date Published: January 1, 2021
    
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