Citation

Farrell AD, Mays S, Bettencourt A, Erwin EH, Vulin-Reynolds M, Allison KW. Am. J. Community Psychol. 2010; 46(1-2): 19-35.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23284-2018, USA. afarrell@vcu.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1007/s10464-010-9331-z

PMID

20526663

PMCID

PMC2938874

Abstract

This qualitative study explored environmental factors that influence adolescents' responses to problem situations involving peers. Interviews were conducted with 106 middle school students (97% African American) from an urban school system. Participants were asked to describe factors that would make it easier and those that would make it more difficult for adolescents to make specific responses to problem situations. Two types of responses were presented: nonviolent responses identified as effective in a previous study, and fighting responses. Qualitative analysis identified 24 themes representing family, peer, school, and neighborhood and broader social factors that were related to both nonviolent behavior and fighting. The identification of environmental influences on fighting and nonviolent responses has important implications for efforts to reduce aggression and promote effective nonviolent responses to problem situations encountered by adolescents.

Language: en