Relationship between family and community violence exposure to violent and drug offending for male adolescents

• In Event: Poster Session

Abstract

Our study tested the pathways from family and community violence exposure to violent and drug offending through mediating variables: self-control, psychopathic traits, depression and anxiety. Evidence suggests race may affect tested relationships.

Methods: Data consisted of legal records and self-reports from 1,571 confined adolescent boys. Separate structural equation models were run for Black and White samples examining mediational pathways for violence exposure to violent and drug offending. Age was a control variable.

Results: Models adequately predicted offending across models for Black (R2=.11-.16), and White (R2=.16-.17) male adolescents. Among Black-identified adolescents, both contexts of violence exposure predicted violent offending. Among White-identified adolescents, community violence predicted both violent and drug offending. For Black and White adolescents, psychopathic traits mediated relationship between family and community violence and offending categories, and anxiety mediated drug offending for White adolescents.

Conclusions: There were differential effects of violence exposure for Black and White adolescents in the pathways to delinquency. Findings may be explained by the stress process model, as experiencing stressful situations call upon the individual’s ability to utilize personal and social resources for adaptation. Exposure to violence, a source of social stress, is linked to mental health and negative behavioral outcomes.

Authors

• Janice E. Clifford, Auburn University

• Rebecca L. Fix, Johns Hopkins University