title: Acculturation and aggression in Latino adolescents: modeling longitudinal trajectories from the Latino Acculturation and Health Project.
abstract: This study examines how multiple indicators of adolescent and parent acculturation relate to longitudinal trajectories of Latino adolescent aggression. The hierarchical linear modeling analysis is based on a final sample of 256 adolescents paired with one parent. Of the adolescents, 66% were born outside of the United States and the remaining 34% were US-born. Families lived in two sites: 38% lived in North Carolina and 62% lived in Arizona. The overall trajectory of Latino adolescent aggression displays a statistically significant negative trend best characterized by a quadratic curve. We delineate significant risk factors related to aggression levels, and show that gender, age, parent-reported acculturation conflicts, and adolescent-reported parent-adolescent conflicts are associated with higher levels of adolescent aggression. We discuss the study limitations, implications of the findings, and fertile ground for future research.
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3550, USA. smokowsk@email.unc.edu
authors.forename: Paul Richard
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Smokowski
authors.forename: Roderick A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Rose
authors.forename: Martica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bacallao
mesh_terms: D000069:Acculturation; D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D000367:Age Factors; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010287:Parent-Child Relations / Q000208:ethnology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States; D014754:Violence / Q000208:ethnology*