Why Is There Violence in the World? a Mixed Methods Comparison of Essays Across Subtypes of Victimized and Aggressive Youth in a Diverse Sample of Early Adolescents

Peer violence is a common problem for youth and an estimated 30% of 6-10^thgraders is involved in at least moderate victimization as either perpetrator or victim. Latent class analyses repeatedly show four different subtypes: non-victimized aggressors, aggressive-victims, passive-victims, and well-adjusted youth, which are relatively stable over time. Behavioral responses in social interactions are shaped by underlying beliefs about the appropriateness of different behaviors, which in turn are rooted in cultural values and personal experience. Exposure to community violence on a chronic basis increases the risk of involvement in direct victimization experiences for youth at home, in the neighborhood and at school suggesting a potentially substantial overlap of peer with community victimization. One way of “making sense” of the world and expressing ones beliefs is through personal narratives. There has been research investigating written narratives of youth, but an analysis of the connection between specific beliefs about the existence of violence and behavioral correlates is still missing. The present mixed methods analysis: 1) integrates victimization regardless of where it occurs by combining peer and community victimization experiences; 2) develops a qualitative framework of reasons for the existence of violence as described in narratives of diverse middle school youth; 3) compare those reasons across groups of non-victimized aggressors, aggressive victims, non-aggressive victims and youth not affected by violence. This work bridges qualitative narratives to behavioral correlates to investigate similarities and differences in beliefs for the existence of violence between different subgroups of youth in a diverse sample.

Methods: Data for this study were collected as part of a multisite randomized controlled trial testing the efficacy of a behavioral intervention designed to promote adjustment among 7^thgrade youth exposed to peer and community violence using expressive writing. The study used grounded theory to develop a framework of different reasons for the existence of violence in a subset of essay responses. Then, using baseline data from 486 participants in the experimental arm group membership was calculated using cut-off scores. In ATLAS.ti software, 99 transcripts were coded using the framework by coders blind to condition.

Results: Two main emerging themes were that reasons for violence were either malleable or innate and static. Differences and similarities about the reasons for violence based on group membership will be presented.

Discussion: In this diverse sample the correlation between victimization and aggressive behavior was substantial (r=.46, p<0.001). Overall, 80% of youth reported being victimized and 79% endorsed at least one aggressive behavior. Due to the high correlation, cutoffs had to be used to identify non-violent victims and aggressor-only groups. Despite their low number, especially narratives of those youth could give interesting insights into beliefs around the existence of violence. Better understanding of such beliefs across different groups of victims and peer aggressors may make interventions that target violence prevention in middle school youth more effective.