Peer Factors as Mediators of Relations Between Exposure to Violence and Physical Aggression in Middle School Students in a Low-Income Urban Community.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Although prior research has demonstrated that peers influence both physical aggression and exposure to violence during adolescence, few studies have investigated the extent to which peers play a role in relations between physical aggression and violence exposure. This longitudinal study examined peer pressure for fighting, friends' delinquent behavior, and friends' support for fighting as mediators of relations between exposure to violence through witnessing and victimization, and adolescents' frequency of physical aggression.

Method

Participants were 2,707 adolescents attending three urban middle schools (Mage = 12.4; 52% female; 79% African American, 17% Hispanic/Latino). Participants completed measures of their frequency of physical aggression, witnessing

SUBMITTER: Farrell AD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9957552 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature