Citation

Lambert SF, Ialongo NS, Boyd RC, Cooley MR. Am. J. Community Psychol. 2005; 36(1-2): 29-48.

Affiliation

Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1007/s10464-005-6231-8

PMID

16134043

Abstract

Community violence is recognized a significant public health problem. However, only a paucity of research has examined risk factors for community violence exposure across domains relevant to adolescents or using longitudinal data. This study examined youth aggressive behavior in relation to community violence exposure among a community epidemiologically defined sample of 582 (45% female) urban adolescents. Internalizing behaviors, deviant peer affiliation, and parental monitoring were examined as moderators of the association between aggressive behavior and exposure to community violence. For males with aggressive behavior problems and deviant peer affiliation or low parental monitoring, co-occurring anxiety symptoms protected against subsequent witnessing community violence. In contrast, males with aggressive behavior problems and co-occurring depressive symptoms were at increased risk for witnessing community violence. Implications of the findings for preventive interventions and future research are discussed.