A secondary data analysis of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health allowed for a multi-factorial examination of both individual factors and situational/ contextual factors for their relative potential as significant explanatory variables in adolescent violence. Cox's Interaction Model of Client Health Behavior served as the study's theoretical framework. Using multiple regression modeling techniques, together with the unique use of a factor analytic approach to the health outcome VIOLENCE-this study helps begin to uncover the underlying dimensions of the phenomenon of adolescent violence. The main finding of the study is that by simultaneously exploring individual characteristics and the context within which individuals make decisions a more complete understanding of adolescent violence is derived. The best estimates of adolescent violence using this framework explained fifty eight percent of the variance in violent behavior. Controlling for gender and family constellation revealed that parent communication and family togetherness, not residency, directly influenced the efficacy expectations and the individual perceptions of self. Victimization by violence appeared as the single most important direct determinant of violence (b=.54). This study proposes that adolescents are victimized as a result of a lack of supports within their social frameworks increasing their reliance on violence. While both boys and girls were victimized their motivations for violence appeared to be different. Health promotion and policy interventions directed at the potentially modifiable individual characteristics, as vehicles for reducing adolescent violence, are introduced.
Learning Objectives: To review current conceptions of the context of adolescent violence. To develop a new approach to studying violence. To explore the idea of adolescents as victims
Keywords: Adolescents, Violence
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.