Abstract
Adolescents' community violence exposure (CVE) has been demonstrated with a range of behavioral and psychological problems, but the processes that explain these correlations are not clear. In our 2017 study, the mediating role of deviant peer affiliation in the relationship between CVE and externalizing problem behaviors has been confirmed. However, the moderating effect of parental factors is still unclear. Therefore, a new group (high school group) was adopted in this study to further explore the moderating effect of parental knowledge based on also confirming the mediating effect of deviant peer affiliation. Stratified-cluster sampling was used to recruit 1,797 volunteers who completed questionnaires on CVE, deviant peer affiliation, parental knowledge, and externalizing problem behaviors. The results of the structural equation modeling were: on the basis of our previous research, we further analyzed the mediating role of deviant peer affiliation, and the mediated association was moderated by parental knowledge. Especially when the school climate is added as a covariate, the moderating effect of parental knowledge has changed, that is, the positive association between CVE and externalizing problem behaviors was much stronger for adolescents who reported lower levels of parental knowledge than for those who reported higher levels of parental knowledge. The results support the assumptions of social learning theory and have implications for interventions of community violence.
Highlights
Community violence takes many forms, including shootings, fights between individuals or between gangs, and bombings
Community violence exposure was positively associated with adolescents’ externalizing problem behavior (b = 0.16, p < 0.001), and there was a positive association between deviant peer affiliation and community violence exposure (b = 0.17, p < 0.001)
Our 2017 study confirmed the mediating role of peer factors in the relationship between community violence exposure and externalizing problem behaviors, which was consistent with previous studies (Goodearl et al, 2013; Hinnant et al, 2019), and the negative effect of CVE on externalizing problem behaviors in adolescents has been documented (Ziv, 2012; Lepore and Kliewer, 2013; Fagan et al, 2014; Stoddard et al, 2015; McGee et al, 2019), the moderating role of parental factors is still unclear
Summary
Community violence takes many forms, including shootings, fights between individuals or between gangs, and bombings. These forms of violence are intentional, are unpredictable, and occur in public (Elsaesser, 2018). Community members are exposed to violence through knowing the victims, witnessing violence, or being victimized. Osofsky (1995) defined community violence exposure(CVE) as “. Frequent and continual exposure to the use of guns, knives, and random violence.”. Children and adolescents are among the victims of community violence. According to the US National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence II (NatSCEV II), the children and young people surveyed accounted for ∼57.7%, and had undergone or witnessed at least one in five
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