Ecological Analysis of Relations Among Community Violence, Victimization, and Physical Aggression in Adolescence

Introduction: Although previous studies have indicated that exposure to community violence and victimization increase adolescents’ risk for aggression, few previous studies have addressed the potential confounding effects of contextual factors such as school and community characteristics associated with high levels of violence. Moreover, few previous studies have examined bidirectional relations among violence exposure and aggression. We present the findings of a study that examined relations among witnessing violence, experiencing victimization, and aggression using multilevel models to incorporate individual variables and contextual factors within the neighborhood, school, and peer environment.

Method: We conducted secondary analyses on data collected from a high-risk sample of 1,156 sixth grade students in 37 schools from four communities as part of the Multisite Violence Prevention Project. The sample was 65% male, 67% African American, and 14% Latino American. Two cohorts of students completed measures of exposure to community violence, victimization, and frequency of aggression near the beginning and at the end of the school year. Aggression was assessed by a composite of teacher ratings and students’ self-report. A measure of concentrated disadvantage was created for each school zone based on U.S. Census data. School-level measures of school safety problems and peer models for aggression were constructed by aggregating ratings from a random sample of students in each cohort at each school.

Results: We used multilevel models to assess relations among individual-level and school level variables. Longitudinal analyses indicated that witnessing community violence and experiencing victimization at the beginning of the school year were each independently related to increases in the frequency of aggression at the end of the school year even after controlling for demographics and contextual factors. There was also support for bidirectional effects such that students reporting higher levels of aggression near the beginning of the school year reported increases in their subsequent exposure to violence. Contextual factors, particularly concentrated disadvantage were also related to student experiences, particularly levels of witnessing violence.

Discussion: Urban areas of concentrated disadvantage place adolescents at high risk for witnessing violence. Even within these communities there is variability in levels of exposure that is related to risk for engaging in aggression. There is also support for a vicious cycle such that witnessing violence leads to increased aggression, which in turn leads to increased exposure to community violence. These findings underscore the need for interventions that address individual, school, and community risk factors.