title: Family Functioning and High Risk Adolescents' Aggressive Behavior: Examining Effects by Ethnicity.
abstract: The relationship between family functioning and adolescents' physical aggression has been well established, but whether these relationships might differ by ethnicity has received less attention. Ethnic variations may be important for targeting prevention programs to specific youth and families. This study examined the longitudinal relationship between family cohesion, parental monitoring, and physical aggression using data from the Multisite Violence Prevention Project sample of high-risk youth (elevated aggression). Participants were 1,232 high-risk middle school students (65% male; 70% African American; 15% Hispanic). Meaningful demographic variations were identified. After controlling for intervention condition and study site, family cohesion was significantly negatively related to physical aggression, more so for Hispanic youth. Parental monitoring was negatively associated with physical aggression for African American youth only. Our findings point to the importance of developing culturally sensitive family interventions to prevent physical aggression in middle school.
authors.affiliation: The Methodology Center, The Pennsylvania State University, 204 E. Calder Way, Suite 400, State College, PA, 16801, USA. Akh15@psu.edu.
authors.forename: Angela K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Henneberger
authors.affiliation: Curry School of Education, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Shannon M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Varga
authors.affiliation: Curry School of Education, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Alyssa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moudy
authors.affiliation: Curry School of Education, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Patrick H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Tolan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D005195:Family Relations / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016487:Parenting / Q000208:ethnology; D010379:Peer Group; D014754:Violence / Q000208:ethnology; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Ethnicity; Family cohesion; Parental monitoring; Physical aggression