This study examined risk factors of physical aggression during transition from early to late adolescence using a two-wave longitudinal study. Specifically, we examined if risk factors in early adolescence predict physically aggressive behavior starting in late adolescence and why some adolescents desist physical aggressive behavior while others do not. The study sample consisted of 2289 Norwegian adolescents (1235 girls) who participated in the Young-HUNT1 study (mean age 14.5) and the follow-up study 4 years later, Young-HUNT2 study (mean age 18.4). One in six young adolescents reported engaging in physical fights. Moreover, physical aggression in early adolescence was significantly associated with male gender, attention problems, academic problems, being bullied, drinking alcohol, and smoking. Male gender and heavy drinking during early adolescence increased the risk for newly emerging aggressive behavior in late adolescence, whereas heavy drinking during early adolescence was a predictor for persistent versus desisting aggressive behavior in late adolescence.
Considerable research has documented risk factors of physical aggression in adolescence. However, less is known of sex differences in these associations. The current study addressed this important area by examining sex differences in concurrent associations of physical aggression with mental health concerns, trauma exposure, and substance use. The study sample consisted of 3686 boys (mean age 15.9 years) and 3881 girls (mean age 16.0 years) from Young-HUNT3, a population-based study of adolescents in Norway. Logistic regression was used to analyze the association of physical aggression, measured as involvement in physical fighting, with possible risk factors: attention problems, anxiety and depression, loneliness, self-esteem problems, trauma exposure, PTSD symptoms, and substance use. Twenty-one percent (n = 773) of boys and three percent (n = 133) of girls reported participating in physical fights. The results indicated that all risk factors were associated with physical aggression in the total sample as well as in boys and girls separately. Interaction effects with sex emerged for attention problems, anxiety and depression, loneliness, traumatic events, alcohol intoxication, and narcotics use, with larger odds ratios for girls than for boys. Attention problems, traumatic events, and alcohol intoxication showed unique associations with physical aggression for both boys and girls, in addition to PTSD symptoms for boys. In sum, boys’ and girls’ engagement in physical aggression was associated mainly with the same risk factors, but several of the factors increased the relative risk more for girls than for boys. The findings can inform interventions targeting physical aggression in adolescence.
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