title: Risk-taking, attitudes toward aggression, and aggressive behavior among rural middle school youth.
abstract: This study examined the relationship between risk-taking, general acceptance of aggression (GAA), verbal harassment (VH), and aggressive behavior (AB) in the last 30 days among 1440 seventh- and eighth-grade rural middle school youth. Higher levels of risk-taking predicted higher GAA and VH. Significant interactions for AB indicated that, excepting Black youth, higher risk-taking was related to higher levels of violent behavior. Among Black youth the highest levels of AB occurred at moderate levels of risk-taking. Level of risk-taking is an important risk factor that should be taken into account in the study of attitudes toward aggression and aggressive behavior among rural youth.
authors.affiliation: Tri-Ethnic Center for Prevention Research, Colorado State University Fort Collins 80523-1676, USA. rswaim@lamar.colostate.edu
authors.forename: Randall C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Swaim
authors.forename: Kimberly L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Henry
authors.forename: Nicholas E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Baez
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D000374:Aggression; D001290:Attitude; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012574:Schools; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires