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Individual and Contextual Factors Associated with Patterns of Aggression and Peer Victimization During Middle School

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Abstract

Peer victimization is a common problem among adolescents that has been linked to a variety of adjustment problems. Youth involved in peer victimization represent a heterogeneous group who may differ not only in their levels of victimization and perpetration, but also in the factors that influence their behavior. The current study used latent class analysis (LCA) to identify subgroups of aggressive and victimized youth, and to examine social-cognitive and environmental factors that differ across these subgroups. Participants were a predominantly African-American (i.e., 68 %) sample of 502 sixth, seventh, and eighth graders (45 % male, Mean age = 12.6 years) attending three urban public middle schools, who completed self-report measures of aggression, victimization, and associated individual and contextual factors. LCA identified four classes of adolescents representing non-victimized aggressors, aggressive-victims, predominantly victimized youth, and well-adjusted youth. Class differences were found on measures of beliefs supporting fighting, beliefs against fighting, perceived effectiveness of inept nonviolent responses to conflict, behavioral intentions to engage in aggressive and nonviolent behavior, self-efficacy for nonviolent behavior, and peer and parental support for aggression and nonviolence. For example, within the two classes of victimized youth, aggressive-victims reported greater intentions to engage in physical aggression and inept nonviolent behavior, and were more likely to agree with beliefs supporting the use of instrumental and reactive aggression, and beliefs that fighting is sometimes necessary compared to predominantly victimized youth. These findings emphasize the importance of developing preventive interventions that target the specific needs of distinct subgroups of adolescents.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by cooperative agreement 1U01CE001956 (VCU) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The research and interpretations reported are the sole responsibility of the authors and are not necessarily endorsed by CDC, or represent the views, opinions, or policies of these agencies or their staff. The following reflects a description of each of the author’s contributions to this manuscript. Albert Farrell is the principal investigator of the project in which the data for the present manuscript were collected. He designed the larger project and managed the data collection efforts. Amie Bettencourt conceived of the ideas for the present study with input from Albert Farrell. Amie also performed a large portion of the statistical analysis, and drafted the manuscript with input from Albert Farrell.

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  1. Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 North Broadway, Hampton House, Rm. 806, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA

    Amie F. Bettencourt

  2. Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA

    Albert D. Farrell

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  1. Amie F. Bettencourt
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Correspondence to Amie F. Bettencourt.

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Bettencourt, A.F., Farrell, A.D. Individual and Contextual Factors Associated with Patterns of Aggression and Peer Victimization During Middle School. J Youth Adolescence 42, 285–302 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-012-9854-8

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