Abstract
Objectives: To explore the association of family-related adversities with physical fighting, and whether this association is mediated by hopelessness. Methods: The sample consisted of 3712 Slovak adolescents (mean age: 13.9, 50.7% girls). Participants answered questions regarding experienced family-related adversities, involvement in physical fighting in the last 12 months and the Hopelessness Questionnaire. First, the association of family adversities in general with fighting and of each of family-related adversity separately was assessed using linear regression models and second, mediation was assessed using the a*b product method with bootstrapped 95% confidence intervals Results: Adolescents who had experienced at least one family adversity reported more frequent fighting. Similarly, each of reported family adversities (death of a parent, substance abuse problems of a parent, conflicts/physical fights, divorce) was associated with more frequent fighting among adolescents. The mediation effect of hopelessness was found in each association of family-related adversity with fighting. Conclusion: These findings suggest that interventions to support adolescents who had experienced family adversities could among other things be directed at better coping with hopelessness.
Highlights
The World report on violence and health [1] defines youth violence as an intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual against another person or group or community occurring among individuals aged 10–29 years, who are unrelated to each other, who may or may not know each other and these acts of violence usually take place outside of home
Out of the explored family-related adversities, divorce of parents was the most weakly associated with hopelessness among adolescents (B 0.23***) and we found the smallest mediation effect of hopelessness in the association of divorce with physical fights (Figure 2A-D)
We found that adolescents who experienced any family adversity were more frequently involved in fighting
Summary
The World report on violence and health [1] defines youth violence as an intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual against another person or group or community occurring among individuals aged 10–29 years, who are unrelated to each other, who may or may not know each other and these acts of violence usually take place outside of home. The most recent Health Behavior in School-aged Children Study (HBSC 2017/2018) in Slovakia revealed that 12% of boys and 5% of girls at the age of 15 years old were involved into physical fight at least three times in the last 12 months [3]. Findings from the last HBSC study [5] including 45 countries in Europe and Canada showed that on average 12% boys and 5% girls aged 15 years were involved into physical fights three or more times in the last 12 months. Parental problem drinking [11] and living in a singleparent family [12] were associated with violent behavior in adolescents
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