Understanding the link between exposure to violence and aggression in justice-involved adolescents

Abstract

The current study advanced research on the link between community violence exposure and aggression by comparing the effects of violence exposure on different functions of aggression and by testing four potential (i.e., callous-unemotional traits, consideration of others, impulse control, and anxiety) mediators of this relationship. Analyses were conducted in an ethnically/racially diverse sample of 1,216 male first-time juvenile offenders (M = 15.30 years, SD = 1.29). Our results indicated that violence exposure had direct effects on both proactive and reactive aggression 18 months later. The predictive link of violence exposure to proactive aggression was no longer significant after controlling for proactive aggression at baseline and the overlap with reactive aggression. In contrast, violence exposure predicted later reactive aggression even after controlling for baseline reactive aggression and the overlap with proactive aggression. Mediation analyses of the association between violence exposure and reactive aggression indicated indirect effects through all potential mediators, but the strongest indirect effect was through impulse control. The findings help to advance knowledge on the consequences of community violence exposure on justice-involved youth.

The Effects of Victimization and Fear of Crime on the Legal Socialization of Young Adolescents in São Paulo, Brazil

“…The results suggest that there is an important relationship between victimization and the formation of legitimacy and cynicism over time. This finding supports others who have observed a relationship between exposure to violence and legitimacy (Curto et al, 2011; Reisig & Lloyd, 2009; Myers et al, 2018). Specifically, the findings here revealed that witnessing violence was predictive of adolescents having less legitimacy in authority 1 year later.…”

“…The current study extends the legal socialization framework by addressing some observations that have, to date, remained underexamined. One observation is that exposure to violence influences how adolescents view the legitimacy of authorities (Myers et al, 2018). That is, children and adolescents living in poor urban areas with high levels of violence, victimization, and fear will be more likely to develop antisocial behavior (Curto, Paula, Nascimento, Murray, & Bordin, 2011).…”

The Vicious Cycle: Problematic Family Relations, Substance Abuse, and Crime in Adolescence: A Narrative Review

“…These negative feelings also contribute to developing poor confidence in others, negatively impacting the adolescents’ capacity to manage negative emotions ( Garrido et al, 2018 ). Risky conducts become the only strategy to communicate their feelings and oversee their emotions ( Myers et al, 2018 ). Another important finding is in regard to parent justice involvement, which is often associated with a lower perception of support and cohesion among family members, the absence of parents, and the lack of family communication.…”

Implications of youths’ perceptions of police bias and the code of the street for violent offending.

“…Despite the study’s strengths, several important limitations must be acknowledged. First, the ETV measure is inherently unable to distinguish between violence experienced by the respondent (i.e., a youth was part of a fight because he was attacked) from violence caused by the respondent (i.e., a youth was part of a fight because he attacked someone else; see Wall Myers et al, 2018). Future research should differentiate violence inadvertently experienced by the respondent (see Sharkey, 2018).…”