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Specifying the Interrelationship Between Exposure to Violence and Parental Monitoring for Younger Versus Older Adolescents: A Five Year Longitudinal Test

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American Journal of Community Psychology

Abstract

Five waves of longitudinal data collected from 349 African American youth living in extreme poverty were used to examine the interrelationship between exposure to violence and parenting during adolescence. Semi-parametric group based modeling was used to identify trajectories of parental monitoring and exposure to violence from T1 to T5. Results from these analyses revealed: (1) a trajectory of declining parental monitoring for 48% of youth; and (2) four distinct trajectories of exposure to violence. Multivariate findings were largely consistent with the ecological-transactional model of community violence. Youth with stable and/or increasing trajectories of exposure to violence were more likely than youth with stable-low exposure to violence to have declining parental monitoring, but additional analyses revealed a similar pattern of findings for younger adolescents (age 9–11 T1), but no evidence of linkages between trajectories of exposure to violence and parental monitoring for older adolescents (age 12–16 T1). The theoretical and policy implications of these findings as well as areas for future research are also discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminal Justice, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA

    Richard Spano

  2. Department of Criminal Justice, Niagara University, Lewiston, NY, USA

    Craig Rivera

  3. Department of Family Sciences, The University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA

    Alexander T. Vazsonyi

  4. College of Human and Environmental Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA

    John M. Bolland

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  1. Richard Spano
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  2. Craig Rivera
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  3. Alexander T. Vazsonyi
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Correspondence to Richard Spano.

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Spano, R., Rivera, C., Vazsonyi, A.T. et al. Specifying the Interrelationship Between Exposure to Violence and Parental Monitoring for Younger Versus Older Adolescents: A Five Year Longitudinal Test. Am J Community Psychol 49, 127–141 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-011-9456-8

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