229158 Sex differences in the link between community violence exposure and childhood aggression: The mediating role of social information processing and emotion regulation

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Asha Goldweber, PhD , Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
Catherine Bradshaw, PhD , Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
Kimberly Goodman, PhD , Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
Katrina J. Debnam, MPH, CHES , Public and Community Health, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, MD
Michele Cooley-Strickland, MEd, PhD , Department of Psychiatry, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
AIMS: There is increasing evidence that exposure to community violence during childhood elevates aggression. However, the mechanisms that mediate this association—and whether these mechanisms vary by gender—remain unclear. Social cognitions and emotional functioning (e.g., inhibition, behavioral regulation) may mediate the violence exposure-aggression link. The present study aims to assess whether these mediators differ by gender.

METHOD: Data come from an epidemiologically defined sample of 434 urban children (ages 8-14, M=10.48, SD = 1.15 years), of which 47% were male and 87% were African American. Students completed psychometrically sound measures regarding their lifetime exposure to community violence, aggression, social information processing, and emotion dysregulation.

RESULTS: The exposure to community violence-aggression link was mediated by emotion dysregulation among males (β = .49, p < .001) and females (β = .46, p < .001). Negatively biased social information significantly predicted aggression for females (β = .22, p < .01), but not males. For females, the final model accounted for 52% of the variance in aggression whereas for males 36% of the variability in aggression was explained.

CONCLUSIONS: That emotion dysregulation mediated the community violence-aggression link suggests a gender invariant mechanism among urban youth. It is important to note the sex-specific mechanism of negatively biased social information processing. These findings suggest that interventions aiming to reduce the impact of community violence exposure on aggressive behavior should target social information processing in order to be most effective among females, and emotion regulation problems when aiming to reduce aggression among both boys and girls.

Learning Areas:
Social and behavioral sciences
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
1. Identify mechanisms (i.e., social cognition, emotional functioning) that mediate the association between exposure to community violence and youth aggression. 2. Assess potential sex differences in the mechanisms mediating the community violence-aggression link.

Keywords: Child/Adolescent, Violence

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to present because I have overseen programs on suicide prevention, juvenile justice facility safety, and improving services for mentally ill juvenile offenders. I also serve as a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University in the Department of Mental Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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