The differential effects of family violence on adolescent adjustment

The present study examined the effects of different types of domestic violence (i.e., being a victim of parent-child violence and witnessing interparental violence) on adolescent adjustment. The sample included a large, racially/ethnically and socioeconomically diverse group of high school students. Findings revealed that this sample experienced and witnessed high levels of family violence. Two hierarchical regression analyses were conducted with externalizing behavior problem and internalizing behavior problem scores as the outcome variables. Variables were entered in three blocks with numerous sociodemographic variables entered first as covariates, the amounts of parent-child violence and witnessing interparental violence entered in the second block, and the interaction of gender and violence variables and interaction of the two violence variables in the third. Results revealed the amounts of parent-child violence and interparental violence witnessed were significant predictors of both externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. Significant effects were also found for the interaction between parent-child violence and interparental violence. The implications of the findings are discussed.     

ADOLESCENTS AS A SOURCE OF SOCIAL CONTROL: THE UTILITY OF ADOLESCENT SOCIAL CAPITAL FOR REDUCING VIOLENT DELINQUENCY

Parental social capital has emerged as an important social control component of adolescent delinquency. However, for severe forms of delinquency, such as violence, adolescent social capital is as likely a source of social control as adult social capital. This study uses the first two waves of the Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to show that parental social capital has little effect on violence once parental and family characteristics are controlled. However, both neighborhood and school adolescent social capital reduce adolescents' violent behavior in spite of strong controls of peer fighting, prior violent offending, and neighborhood-level variables.     

Discipline,Shaming and Antisocial Attitude in Philadelphia Middle Schools

The U.S. school system has changed fundamentally in its basic approach to social control in recent decades, with harsh approaches to student discipline having increased in popularity despite data showing pronounced and steady declines in incidents of both school violence and juvenile delinquency. This study revisits a sample of students in the Philadelphia School District to examine how perceptions of school rules and administration are associated with antisocial attitudes among students who were recently disciplined. The analysis included measures of interdependency, shaming, and peer association derived from reintegrative shaming theory. Findings from multiple regression analysis show that students who perceived their sanction as reintegrative in the school context were less likely to hold antisocial attitudes. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Quality of Parenting as Mediator of the Effect of Childhood Defiance on Adolescent Friendship Choices and Delinquency: A Growth Curve Analysis

Social scientists agree that childhood antisocial behavior portends adolescent delinquency, but there is little agreement regarding the theoretical processes that account for this behavioral continuity. Latent growth curve modeling was used to test latent trait and social influence explanations for this association. The analyses used data collected annually over a 4‐year period from a sample of 149 boys, 157 girls, and their parents. Contrary to latent trait theories, we found no direct association between oppositional/defiant behavior during childhood and a trajectory of increasing involvement with deviant peers and delinquency during adolescence. Rather, early oppositional/defiant behavior undermined effective parenting practices. The latter, in turn, predicted an increasing affiliation with deviant peers and delinquency during adolescence. Improvements in parenting during adolescence decreased delinquency indirectly by reducing affiliation with deviant peers. Overall, the results support a life course development model in which difficult behavior during childhood increases the probability of adolescent deviant behavior because of its disruptive effect on quality of parenting.     

Moral commitment and the effects of social influences on violent delinquency

The present article investigates the issue of whether and how moral commitment regarding violence conditions the relationship between a set of social environmental variables and violent delinquency. Three mutually exclusive hypotheses were evaluated using data from the National Youth Survey. The first, emanating from a purely environmental perspective, holds that moral commitment to non-violence does not condition the relationships of social variables to violent delinquency. The second hypothesis predicts that social factors have their greatest effect on violent behavior among those most strongly opposed to violence. The third hypothesis anticipates that social variables have their greatest impact on violent delinquency among those with violent attitudes. The results yielded strong support for the third hypothesis. Theoretical implications are discussed.     

The effect of poor parenting on male and female dating violence perpetration and victimization

This study examines the effects of poor parenting on dating violence perpetration and victimization among approximately 900 males and females from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Results revealed that more physical abuse and low parental warmth were linked to greater substance use and higher rates of delinquency. In addition, low parental warmth, more neglect, and greater delinquency had positive direct effects on dating violence perpetration, whereas more physical abuse, low parental warmth, and increased delinquency were all positively associated with dating violence victimization. Finally, delinquency mediated the link between low parental warmth and dating violence perpetration and victimization. The results provide some support for both social learning theory and an antisocial orientation perspective.     

The joint contribution of experiencing and witnessing violence during childhood on child abuse in the parent role

This article examines adult respondents' abuse of children as a consequence of their own childhood experiences of abuse, both direct experiences of childhood violence (hitting) and exposure to interparental violence (witnessing). In particular, the study examines the extent to which these factors function interactively: Are both experience and exposure necessary or is either sufficient to increase disproportionately the probability of child abuse? Using data from the Second National Family Violence Survey, results of a logistic regression analysis show that either or both factors produced higher than average and relatively similar rates of child abuse. Only respondents with neither form of family violence reported lower than average rates of abuse of their own children. The analysis controlled for gender, race, family income, and family structure; race was the only control variable to be significantly associated with child abuse. Finally, no control variable modified the interaction between the family violence variables.     

Juvenile Delinquency in Search of a Practice Model: Family Health,Differential Association,and Social Control

ABSTRACT

Historically, practice research on juvenile delinquency has often been guided by the theories of differential association and social control. However, current research indicates that no matter what theory of delinquency is pursued, it has had little effect on decreasing juvenile arrest and violent crime rates. This article will explore the dynamics of the theories of differential association and social control in relation to juvenile delinquency. These linear, normative, and deficit-based theories are then contrasted with family health practice, an alternative theory and intervention model which focuses on the multiple forms and needs of families and their strengths. Specific family health practice principles and interventions are suggested for practice with families in which juvenile delinquency occurs. Finally, a case example utilizing family health interventions is presented.     

The Relation between Observational Measures of Social Problem Solving and Familial Antisocial Behavior: Genetic and Environmental Influences

Deficits in social problem‐solving skills are often associated with antisocial behavior, particularly in children’s extrafamilial relationships. The current study was designed to examine this association in several new ways: the association was examined at two times in an adolescent sample within the context of the family; genetic models were used to estimate genetic and environmental effects on observational measures of problem solving and antisocial behavior and on the association between the two. The analyses were conducted as part of the Nonshared Environment in Adolescent Development project, consisting of 720 families at Time 1 (mean adolescent age: 14.5 years) and 440 families at Time 2 (mean adolescent age: 16.1 years). Genetic influence was found for antisocial behavior, but not for problem solving. The findings of shared environmental influences on these measures and their association are unusual in the behavioral genetic literature and are important in that respect.     

Correlates of traditional bullying and cyberbullying perpetration among Australian students

This study investigated the associations of gender, age, trait anger, moral disengagement, witnessing of interparental conflict, school connectedness and the religious makeup of the school setting in the involvement in traditional bullying and cyberbullying perpetration. Five hundred Australian students completed an anonymous self-report, paper-based questionnaire. According to the results, 25.2% of the participants reported having engaged in traditional or cyberbullying perpetration. While trait anger and moral disengagement were associated with being a traditional bully, trait anger, interparental conflicts, moral disengagement and school connectedness were associated with being a traditional bully-victim. Additionally, trait anger and moral disengagement were associated with being a traditional-and-cyberbully. Our findings indicated that besides individual variables, the family and school environment have an impact on traditional and cyberbullying perpetration behavior. Results imply that any prevention attempts to reduce traditional and cyberbullying should consider students' experiences both at home and at school.     

The encounter with family violence and risky sexual activity among young adolescent females

In this article, we analyze the relationship between family violence and risky sexual activity for female adolescents (age 14 to 17). We examine two forms of family violence: experience (receiving physical abuse from a parent or parent-figure) and exposure (witnessing interparental physical violence). We hypothesize that either form of violence will predict greater odds of engaging in risky sexual behavior. We define risky sexual activity as any of the following: having multiple partners within the last 12 months or having sex with partners who are themselves engaging in risky behavior (e.g., having multiple partners of either sex, injecting unprescribed drugs, sharing unprescribed needles for injecting drugs). We analyzed data from 710 respondents taken from the National Survey of Family Growth, Cycle V, living with at least one biological parent. Results showed that experiencing violence from a parent greatly increased the likelihood of risky sex, even when controlling for the experience of forced sex, age, mother's age at first birth, race, socioeconomic status, and religiosity. Female adolescents who had experienced forced sex, those who were older (especially 17-year-olds), non-Hispanic Blacks (but not Hispanics), those living in a family with low educational attainment (less than a high school diploma), and those for whom religion was not or only somewhat personally important were more likely to report risky sex compared to others. These effects were not modified by whether the respondents lived in single- or two-parent families. An interaction between the two forms of physical violence suggests that either form is sufficient to increase significantly the odds of risky sex; an analysis in which respondents were differentiated by their experience of either form of violence showed a strong effect of experience on risky sex, net of the control variables.     

Neighborhood Conditions,Parenting, and Adolescent Functioning

ABSTRACT

This study examined youth self-reported data from a 4-year longitudinal study of 5th and 8th grade youth and their parents. Relationships between neighborhood conditions, parenting, and youth antisocial behavior were tested using structural equation modeling. The findings of this study appear to suggest there are two social forces that affect youth antisocial behavior: parenting and neighborhood conditions. Higher levels of parental acceptance and monitoring are directly and significantly associated with lower levels of youth antisocial behavior, as are higher levels of community social integration and lower levels of youth loneliness. Overall, it was found that some measures of neighborhood conditions and some measures of parenting were relatively equally predictive of youth antisocial behavior. Other measures of neighborhood conditions were predictive of parenting, but not strongly enough to also impact adolescent functioning.     

Experiences of Violence, Post-Traumatic Stress, Academic Achievement and Behavior Problems of Urban African-American Children

This study examined the frequency of family violence, community violence, and witnessing of violence for 110 African-American children. Levels of post-traumatic stress, academic achievement and behavior problems of the children were also examined. The students were sixth graders between the ages of 11 and 13 from four inner-city Chicago public schools. The level of exposure to family violence was significantly related to levels of behavior problems and negatively related to school achievement. The level of exposure to community violence was associated with levels of behavior problems and approached significance in a negative direction with school achievement. Academic achievement was not significantly related to behavior, but was significantly associated with post-traumatic stress disorder, family violence, witnessing violence and approached significance with community violence exposure.     

Incarcerated Mothers Reports of Their Daughters' Antisocial Behavior,Maternal Supervision and Mother-Daughter Relationship

ABSTRACT

This study examines the extent of delinquency and antisocial behavior among adolescent daughters of incarcerated mothers and the influence of the mother-daughter relationship and maternal supervision on daughters' participation in delinquency and antisocial behavior. One hundred and one incarcerated mothers completed survey questionnaires that asked about their daughters' participation and involvement in antisocial and delinquent behavior and the nature of both mother-daughter relationship and maternal supervision. Overall, mothers reported low levels of involvement in antisocial or delinquent behavior for their daughters. Participation in antisocial behavior was inversely related to positive mother-daughter relationship. Maternal supervision was not related to level of participation in antisocial or delinquent behavior.     

Pathways Linking Childhood Maltreatment and Adolescent Sexual Risk Behaviors: The Role of Attachment Security

Previous research has shown an association between child maltreatment (sexual abuse, physical abuse, neglect, or witnessing interparental violence) and adolescent sexual risk behaviors (SRBs). The mechanisms explaining this association are not well understood, but attachment theory could provide further insight into them. This study examined the relationships between child maltreatment and SRBs and investigated anxious and avoidant attachment as mediators. The sample comprised 1,900 sexually active adolescents (13 to 17 years old; 60.8% girls) attending Quebec high schools. The results of path analyses indicated that neglect was associated with a higher number of sexual partners, casual sexual behavior, and being younger at first intercourse. Anxious attachment mediated the relation between neglect and number of sexual partners, whereas avoidant attachment explained the relation between neglect and number of sexual partners, casual sexual behavior, and age at first intercourse (for boys only). Sexual abuse was directly associated with all three SRBs. Neither anxious attachment nor avoidant attachment mediated these associations. Youth with a history of neglect and sexual abuse represent a vulnerable population that is likely to engage in SRBs. Interventions designed to induce a positive change in attachment security may reduce SRBs among victims of neglect.     

The moderating role of parental warmth on the effects of exposure to family violence

Previous research has shown parental warmth to have mixed effects on individuals in violent families. While positively associated with psychological health in some victims, parental warmth has also been positively associated with measures of psychological distress in other victims. The current study examined two models (the "buffering" and "inconsistency" theories) to clarify the effects of parental warmth. The current study also sought to clarify the role of parental warmth within the context of exposure to different types of family violence (i.e., witnessing versus victimization). Results differed depending on the type of violence exposure. Both mother and father warmth were negatively associated with secure attachment and self-esteem in combined victims and witnesses of violence, whereas, mother warmth was positively associated with self-esteem in witnesses of violence. Father warmth did not significantly impact either outcome for witnesses. Parental warmth did not influence either outcome for those who had only experienced victimization.     

Negative family-of-origin experiences: are they associated with perpetrating unwanted pursuit behaviors?

Parental divorce, history of parental relationship separation, perceptions of interparental conflict, and witnessing parental violence were retrospectively assessed in a sample of 213 college students from several regions in the United States, all of whom had suffered an unwanted break-up of an important romantic relationship. This study investigated whether these family-of-origin experiences were associated with perpetrating unwanted pursuit behaviors after the relationship break-up. Results indicated that male participants who had experienced either parental divorce or separation perpetrated more severe unwanted pursuit behavior than males who had not experienced parental divorce or separation or females from either divorced, separated, or intact families. For females, severe unwanted pursuit behavior perpetration was correlated with threatening and intense parental arguments. These findings suggest that a variety of types of negative parental relationship behavior may be risk factors for perpetrating severe unwanted pursuit behaviors. The gender-specificity and implications of these findings are discussed.     

Violence Exposure Among Children of Incarcerated Mothers

Social workers are becoming increasingly aware of the unique experiences faced by children of incarcerated parents. Little is known, however, about their experiences prior to their parents being incarcerated. Using data from a broader study of incarcerated women, we examined women’s accounts of their children’s exposure to violence prior to maternal incarceration. Open-ended interviews addressed family and relationship history, physical and psychological victimization, lifetime delinquency and crime, and interactions with service and justice systems. Interviews were analyzed using ATLAS/ti software and a grounded-theory approach. The emergent themes revealed a myriad of consequences experienced by the children, including child witnessing of violence, emotional sequelae, bodily harm from abuse and neglect, sexual abuse, and birth defects from prenatal violence. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Social Competence and Antisocial Behavior: Continuity and Distinctiveness Across Early Adolescence

The degree of continuity and distinctiveness in social competence and antisocial behavior was examined in a longitudinal structural equation model. Participants were 391 typically developing Norwegian middle school students (51% boys), their parents, and teachers and were assessed when they were approximately 13 years of age (a school cohort in 8th grade) and again 17 months later, when they were about 15 years old (in 10th grade). Social competence showed considerable stability across middle school, more than did antisocial behavior. Low social competence at age 13 predicted antisocial behavior at age 15, over and above the variance explained by the earlier assessment of antisocial behavior. While social competence and antisocial behavior both showed a relatively strong negative association concurrently and demonstrated considerable overlap, results suggested that the two constructs should be considered separate dimensions. Findings are presented within a transactional framework and implications for prevention efforts and directions for future research are discussed.     

Preventing Juvenile Delinquency Through Early Family Intervention

ABSTRACT

Any professional working in the field of juvenile corrections can attest to the impact of family dynamics in contributing to and maintaining delinquent behavior, and studies have for years linked family dysfunction with the problem of juvenile delinquency. While most research has been done by professionals in other fields, social workers frequently provide intervention with these families. This article offers an overview of the aspects of family dysfunction which increase the risk of juvenile delinquency and offers suggestions for social work intervention in four areas: identification of families at risk, early intervention, service delivery, and preventive education. All may be considered preventive methods if used effectively.