The Interrelationship between Family Violence, Adolescent Violence, and Adolescent Violent Victimization: An Application and Extension of the Cultural Spillover Theory in China

Yiwei Xia,Tzu-Hsuan Liu,Spencer Li

doi:10.3390/ijerph15020371

Abstract

The current study is the first study to emphasize family systems, violent norms, and violent peer association as three domains of the social environment that influence both adolescent violent offending and victimization among Chinese adolescents using a longitudinal sample. Under the framework of cultural spillover theory, the purpose of the current study was to explore how these three factors influenced adolescent violent offending and victimization. A total of 1192 middle and high school students were randomly selected from one of the largest cities in Southwest China. Structural equation model analysis was applied to investigate the direct and indirect effect of violence in the family system on violent offending and victimization. The results indicated that violent offending and victimization overlapped among Chinese adolescents. Violent peer association and acceptance of the violence norm fully mediated the effect of violence in the family system on violent offending, and partially mediated the effect of violence in the family system on violent victimization. In conclusion, adolescents who had experienced violence in their family system were more likely to be exposed to violent peer influences and to accept violent norms, which increased the likelihood of violence perpetration and victimization later in their life.

Highlights

The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified violence as a thorny public health problem for decades [1]
The results in the lower left of the table present the correlations between violence in the family system to violent behavior and violent victimization both in T1 and T2
These results partially support the first hypothesis of this study, which predicts a positive correlation between violence in the family system and violent/victimization

Summary

Introduction

The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified violence as a thorny public health problem for decades [1]. Violence is often associated with a series of severe consequences for victims throughout their life, especially for children [2]. Children who experience violence may suffer from psychological problems, including depression, anxiety [3], and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) [4], as well as display externalizing behaviors [5,6]. Violence and violent behavior are shown to hinder educational and social-economic attainment [7], which are key areas of childhood development. A significant number of children suffer exposure to violence in the family system [10]. Parents may be the perpetrators and the family is no longer a safe haven for the children

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion