Citation

Halliday-Boykins CA, Graham S. J. Abnorm. Child Psychol. 2001; 29(5): 383-402.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston 29425, USA. hallidca@musc.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

11695541

Abstract

Much psychological inquiry has focused on understanding the contribution that exposure to urban violence makes to violent behavior among youth. However, other ways in which these variables may be related have been largely overlooked. This study compared four alternative social-ecological models of the link between community violence exposure and violent behavior to determine the degree to which (1) community violence exposure contributes to violent behavior, (2) violent behavior contributes to community violence exposure, (3) both are consequences of common antecedents, and (4) both are manifestations of the same higher order construct. Two hundred and seventy-seven adolescent offenders were interviewed about family, neighborhood, cognitive, and peer characteristics, in addition to violent behavior and community violence exposure. Results suggest that a plausible way to understand the association between community violence exposure and youth violent behavior is to consider both as representations of a general involvement in violence.