Family Processes As Moderators of the Impact of Peer, School, and Neighborhood Influences on Adolescent Aggression

Introduction: Despite theoretical support for the role of the family in providing a foundation to protect youth against risks for aggression, there is little published literature examining the protective influence of the family. This study examined family functioning and perceived parental messages about fighting and nonviolence as moderators of the relation between risk factors and adolescent aggression. The specific risk factors included affiliating with a deviant group of peers, attending a school in which there are norms that support aggression, and witnessing high levels of violence within the community. 

Method: Secondary analyses were conducted on data collected from a high-risk sample of 537 adolescents in two cohorts from 37 schools (65% male, 64% African American). Adolescents completed measures of peer deviant behavior and community violence exposure at the beginning and end of the sixth grade and at the end of the following 2 school years. An aggregated school-level measure of norms supporting aggression was constructed from a random sample of students in each cohort and school. Family variables included adolescent reports of parental messages supporting fighting and nonviolence, and family functioning clusters representing adolescent and parent reports of family cohesion, family problem-solving, parental involvement, and positive parenting. Aggression was assessed by a composite of ratings from parents, teachers, and adolescents.

Results: Longitudinal analyses indicated that peer deviance and witnessing violence were each independently related to changes in aggression over time, even after controlling for demographic variables. School norms supporting aggression was not significantly related to aggression. Parental messages supporting nonviolence, messages not supporting fighting, and good family functioning at the start of the sixth grade were each related to lower subsequent levels of aggression. Few protective effects of family processes were found. High family functioning reduced the risk associated with deviant peers. Lower levels of parental support for fighting buffered the risk associated with witnessing violence, but not at higher levels of witnessing violence.

Discussion: A foundation of positive parental messages and good family functioning was associated with lower aggression overall. These family factors generally did not serve to protect children that experienced higher levels of risk for aggression, however. These findings suggest a need for further study of protective factors for adolescents in the face of peer, school, and community risk.