Transactional Process of African American Adolescents' Family Conflict and Violent Behavior.
This is the first longitudinal study of urban African American adolescents that has examined bidirectional effects between their family conflict and violent behavior across all of high school. Structured interviews were administered to 681 students each year in high school at ages 15, 16 17, and 18 years. We used structural equation modeling to test a transactional model and found bidirectional effects between family conflict and violent behavior across the middle years of high school, while accounting for sex and socioeconomic status. Findings suggest a reciprocal process involving interpersonal conflict in African American families and adolescent engagement in youth violence.
University of Pittsburgh, Department of Psychology, 210 S. Bouquet Street, 4423 Sennott Square, Pittsburgh, PA 15260.
Daniel Ewon
DE
Choe
University of Michigan, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, 1415 Washington Heights, 3790A SPH I, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029.
Marc A
MA
Zimmerman
African American; family conflict; violent behavior