NCJ Number
219206
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 36 Issue: 5 Dated: July 2007 Pages: 635-647
Date Published
July 2007
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This study analyzed the associations between violent victimization, the quality of parent-adolescent relationship, and the subsequent onset of violent aggression.
Abstract
Results indicated that violent victimization predicted the onset of violent aggression for adolescents who were non-violent during the first wave of data collection. Moreover, it was found that positive parent-adolescent relations provided a protective buffer against the onset of violent aggression for those youths who had been violently victimized. However, this finding was only significant for boys; parent-adolescent relations did not have a protective impact from the onset of aggressive behaviors for female adolescents who had been violently victimized. The authors speculate that violently victimized adolescents may lack the time to engage in violent aggressive behavior because adolescents with positive relations with their parents simply spend more time with their parents, precluding opportunities for deviant violent aggression. Future research should focus on if and how parent-adolescent relations function as a buffer in single-parent homes of adolescents who are violently victimized. Data were drawn from waves 1 and 2 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) public use dataset, which contains information on 6,504 participants. Data collection occurred over a 3-year period from 1994 through 1996 and included the use of in-school questionnaires and in-home interviews. Both types of data collection methods focused on adolescent violent victimization, violent aggression, parent-adolescent relations, and various control variables, such as household income. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the data. Tables, figures, footnotes, references