Family Functioning and High Risk Adolescents’ Aggressive Behavior: Examining Effects by Ethnicity

• Published in: Journal of youth and adolescence 2016-01, Vol.45 (1), p.145-155
• Main Authors: Henneberger, Angela K., Varga, Shannon M., Moudy, Alyssa, Tolan, Patrick H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescent Behavior - ethnology; Adolescent Behavior - psychology; Adolescents; African American Children; African Americans; African Americans - psychology; Aggression; Aggression - psychology; Aggressiveness; Behavior; Behavior Development; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Beliefs; Body Weight; Child and School Psychology; Child development; Child Rearing; Childrearing practices; Clinical Psychology; Cultural sensitivity; Delinquency; Empirical Research; Ethnicity; Etiology; European Continental Ancestry Group - psychology; Families & family life; Family Income; Family relations; Family Relations - psychology; Family Relationship; Female; Health Psychology; Hispanic Americans; Hispanic Americans - psychology; History of Psychology; Humans; Inner city; Intervention; Law and Psychology; Male; Marital Status; Middle school students; Middle schools; Minority & ethnic groups; Minority Group Children; Parenting - ethnology; Parenting Styles; Parents; Parents & parenting; Peer Group; Prevention; Psychology; Risk; Social cohesion; Socioeconomic factors; Students; Teenagers; Urban Areas; Violence; Violence - ethnology; Youth
• ISSN: 0047-2891; 1573-6601
• DOI: 10.1007/s10964-014-0222-8

The relationship between family functioning and adolescents’ physical aggression has been well established, but whether these relationships might differ by ethnicity has received less attention. Ethnic variations may be important for targeting prevention programs to specific youth and families. This study examined the longitudinal relationship between family cohesion, parental monitoring, and physical aggression using data from the Multisite Violence Prevention Project sample of high-risk youth (elevated aggression). Participants were 1,232 high-risk middle school students (65 % male; 70 % African American; 15 % Hispanic). Meaningful demographic variations were identified. After controlling for intervention condition and study site, family cohesion was significantly negatively related to physical aggression, more so for Hispanic youth. Parental monitoring was negatively associated with physical aggression for African American youth only. Our findings point to the importance of developing culturally sensitive family interventions to prevent physical aggression in middle school.