Living in the Crossfire: Adolescent Problem Behaviors and Delinquent Peer Associations As Predictors of Witnessing Community Violence

Introduction: Research on exposure to community violence during adolescence has primarily focused on its impact on maladaptive functioning. Fewer studies have attempted to identify factors that increase adolescents’ risk of exposure, and most of these have focused on demographic factors such as age, gender, and race. A key assumption of the ecological-transactional model is that children’s contexts and their behavior mutually influence each other. This study tested a key assumption of this model by determining the extent to which adolescents’ behavior influences their risk for exposure to violence. We focused on changes during the sixth grade school year when adolescents are particularly susceptible to peer influences.

Method: A sample of 577 students (47% male; 75% African American; 14% multiracial) from three urban middle schools completed measures of their frequency of witnessing community violence, drug use, physical aggression, and other delinquent behavior, and delinquent peer associations at three waves during the sixth grade.

Results: Bivariate cross-lagged regression models using robust estimates indicated that delinquent peer association and delinquent behavior midway through the school year both predicted subsequent increases in witnessing community violence. There was also evidence of a time lag in the effects of delinquent behavior on witnessing violence. In contrast, drug use and physical aggression did not predict changes in witnessing violence. Analyses of reciprocal relations indicated that witnessing violence did not predict changes in problem behavior frequency or delinquent peer association, with one exception –witnessing violence during the school year was related to decreases in delinquent peer association. When delinquent behavior frequency and delinquent peer association were included in a final model, their combined effect significantly predicted changes in witnessing violence from the beginning to middle and middle to end of the school year. In addition, delinquent peer association consistently predicted changes in delinquency.

Discussion: Not all adolescents in high risk communities are exposed to the same level of community violence. Our findings suggest that adolescents who engage in delinquent behavior and associate with delinquent peers during the sixth grade are at greater risk for witnessing violence. Support was also found for a peer influence model such that associating with delinquent peers was a predictor rather than consequence of delinquent behavior. These findings support the notion that prevention programs that target adolescents’ delinquency and delinquent peer associations may produce broader beneficial effects by reducing adolescents’ exposure to risk factors within the community.