Abstract
To describe trajectories of aggressive behaviors for adolescents living in rural areas, we compared the patterns, timing and sex differences in development of physical and social aggression using five waves of data collected from youth in school surveys administered over 2.5 years. The sample (N = 5,151) was 50.0% female, 52.1% Caucasian and 38.2% African-American. Multilevel growth curve models showed that physical and social aggression followed curvilinear trajectories from ages 11 to 18, with increases in each type of aggression followed by subsequent declines. Physical aggression peaked around age 15; social aggression peaked around age 14. Boys consistently perpetrated more physical aggression than girls, but the trajectories were parallel. There were no sex differences in the perpetration of social aggression. Given the characteristics of the developmental trajectories observed, interventions with both boys and girls targeting physically and socially aggressive behaviors are needed in early adolescence to slow the development of aggression.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aber, J. L., Brown, J. L., & Jones, S. M. (2003). Developmental trajectories toward violence in middle childhood: Course, demographic differences, and response to school-based intervention. Developmental Psychology, 39(2), 324–348.
Allison, P. D. (2000). Multiple imputation for missing data: A cautionary tale. Sociological Methods and Research, 28, 301–309.
Allison, P. D. (2005). Imputation of categorical variables with PROC MI. Paper presented at the 30th Annual SAS Users Group International Conference (SUGI 30), Philadelphia, PA.
Archer, J., & Coyne, S. M. (2005). An integrated review of indirect, relational and social aggression. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 9(3), 212–230.
Belsley, D. A., Kuh, E., & Welsch, R. E. (1980). Regression diagnostics. New York: Wiley.
Blitstein, J. L., Murray, D. M., Lytle, L. A., Birnbaum, A. S., & Perry, C. L. (2005). Predictors of violent behavior in an early adolescent cohort: Similarities and differences across genders. Health Education and Behavior, 32(2), 175–194.
Blum, R. W., Beuhring, T., Shew, M. L., Bearinger, L. H., Sieving, R. E., & Resnick, M. D. (2000). The effects of race/ethnicity, income, and family structure on adolescent risk behaviors. American Journal of Public Health, 90(12), 1879–1884.
Bongers, I. L., Koot, H. M., van der Ende, J., & Verhulst, F. C. (2003). The normative development of child and adolescent problem behavior. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 112(2), 179–192.
Cairns, R. B., Cairns, B. D., Neckerman, H. J., Ferguson, L. L., & Gariépy, J. (1989). Growth and aggression: 1. Childhood to early adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 25(2), 320–330.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2006). Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 2005. Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report, 55(SS-S5), 1–108.
Connor, D. F. (2002). Aggression and antisocial behavior in children and adolescents: Research and treatment. New York: Guilford.
Cook, T. D., Herman, M. R., Phillips, M., & Settersten Jr, R. A. (2002). Some ways in which neighborhoods, nuclear families, friendship groups, and schools jointly affect changes in early adolescent development. Child Development, 73(4), 1283–1309.
Crick, N. R. (1997). Engagement in gender normative versus nonnormative forms of aggression: Links to social–psychological adjustment. Developmental Psychology, 33(4), 610–617.
Crick, N. R., & Grotpeter, J. K. (1995). Relational aggression, gender, and social–psychological adjustment. Child Development, 66, 710–722.
Curran, P. J., & Willoughby, M. T. (2003). Implications of latent trajectory models for the study of developmental psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 15, 581–612.
Duncan, S. C., Duncan, T. E., & Hops, H. (1996). Analysis of longitudinal data within accelerated longitudinal designs. Psychological Methods, 1(3), 236–248.
Elliott, D. S. (1994). Serious violent offenders: Onset, developmental course and termination—the American Society of Criminology 1993 Presidential Address. Criminology, 32(1), 1–21.
Ennett, S. T., & Bauman, K. E. (1996). Adolescent social networks: School, demographic and longitudinal considerations. Journal of Adolescent Research, 11, 194–245.
Ennett, S. T., Bauman, K. E., Hussong, A. M., Faris, R., Foshee, V. A., DuRant, R. H., et al. (2006). The peer context of adolescent substance use: Findings from social network analysis. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 16(2), 159–186.
Evans, W. P., Fitzgerald, C., Weigel, D., & Chvilicek, S. (1999). Are rural gang members similar to their urban peers: Implications for rural communities. Youth & Society, 30(3), 267–282.
Farrell, A. D., Kung, E. M., White, K. S., & Valois, R. F. (2000). The structure of self-reported aggression, drug use, and delinquent behaviors during early adolescence. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 29, 282–292.
Farrell, A. D., & Sullivan, T. N. (2004). Impact of witnessing violence on growth curves for problem behaviors among early adolescents in urban and rural settings. Journal of Community Psychology, 32(5), 505–525.
Farrell, A. D., Sullivan, T. N., Esposito, L. E., Meyer, A. L., & Valois, R. F. (2005). A latent growth curve analysis of the structure of aggression, drug use, and delinquent behaviors and their interrelations over time in urban and rural adolescents. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 15(2), 179–204.
Fergusson, D. M., & Horwood, L. J. (2002). Male and female offending trajectories. Development and Psychopathology, 14, 159–177.
Hope, T. L., & Bierman, K. L. (1998). Patterns of home and school behavior problems in rural and urban settings. Journal of School Psychology, 36(1), 45–58.
Horton, N. J., & Lipsitz, S. R. (2001). Multiple imputation in practice: Comparison of software packages for regression models with missing variables. The American Statistician, 55(3), 244–254.
Howell, D. C. (1992). Statistical methods for psychology. Boston: PWS-Kent.
Kenward, M. G., & Roger, J. H. (1997). Small sample inferences for fixed effects from restricted maximum likelihood. Biometrics, 53(3), 983–997.
Kulig, J. C., Hall, B. L., & Grant Kalischuk, R. (2006). Violence in rural communities: Youth speak out!. Rural and Remote Health, 6, 500–510.
Lagerspetz, K. M. J., Björkqvist, K., & Peltonen, T. (1988). Is indirect aggression typical of females? Gender differences in aggressiveness in 11- to 12-year-old children. Aggressive Behavior, 14, 403–414.
Loeber, R., & Hay, D. (1997). Key issues in the development of aggression and violence from childhood to early adulthood. Annual Review of Psychology, 48, 371–410.
Magnusson, D., & Stattin, H. (1998). Person-context interaction theories. In R. M. Lerner (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology (5th ed., Vol. 1): Theoretical models of human development (pp. 685–759). New York: Wiley.
Moffitt, T. E. (1993). Adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent antisocial behavior: A developmental taxonomy. Psychological Review, 100(4), 674–701.
Neter, J., Wasserman, W., & Kutner, M. H. (1990). Applied linear statistical models: Regression, analysis of variance, and experimental designs (3rd ed.). Burr Ridge: Irwin.
Patrician, P. A. (2002). Multiple imputation for missing data. Research in Nursing & Health, 25, 76–84.
Pepler, D. J., & Craig, W. M. (2005). Aggressive girls on troubled trajectories: A developmental perspective. In D. J. Pepler, K. C. Madsen, C. Webster, & K. S. Levene (Eds.), The development and treatment of girlhood aggression (pp. 3–28). Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Raudenbush, S. W., & Bryk, A. S. (2002). Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis methods (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Ricketts III, T. C., Johnson-Webb, K. D., & Randolph, R. K. (1999). Populations and places in rural America. In T. C. Ricketts III (Ed.), Rural health in the United States (pp. 7–24). New York: Oxford University Press.
Rubin, D. B. (1987). Multiple imputation for non-response in surveys. New York: Wiley.
Rubin, D. B., & Schafer, J. L. (1997). The MIANALYZE procedure. http://support.sas.com/rnd/app/papers/mianalyzev802.pdf. Accessed 12 November 2004
Sampson, R. J., Morenoff, J. D., & Raudenbush, S. W. (2005). Social anatomy of racial and ethnic disparities in violence. American Journal of Public Health, 95(2), 224–232.
SAS Institute (2003). Statistical Analysis Software (SAS), Version 9.1. Cary: SAS.
Sen, P. K., & Singer, J. D. (1993). Large sample methods in statistics: An introduction with applications. New York: Chapman & Hall.
Silverthorn, P., & Frick, P. J. (1999). Developmental pathways to antisocial behavior: The delayed-onset pathway in girls. Development and Psychopathology, 11, 101–126.
Swaim, R. C., Henry, K. L., & Kelly, K. (2006). Predictors of aggressive behaviors among rural middle school youth. Journal of Primary Prevention, 27(3), 229–243.
Tolan, P. H., Gorman-Smith, D., & Loeber, R. (2000). Developmental timing of onsets of disruptive behaviors and later delinquency of inner-city youth. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 9(2), 203–220.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2002). Census 2000 Summary File 3-United States [Electronic data files].
Windle, M. (2000). A latent growth curve model of delinquent activity among adolescents. Applied Developmental Science, 4(4), 193–207.
Xie, H., Cairns, B. D., & Cairns, R. B. (2005). The development of aggressive behaviors among girls: Measurement issues, social functions, and differential trajectories. In D. J. Pepler, K. C. Madsen, C. Webster, & K. S. Levene (Eds.), The development and treatment of girlhood aggression (pp. 105–136). Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Xie, H., Swift, D. J., Cairns, B. D., & Cairns, R. B. (2002). Aggressive behaviors in social interaction and developmental adaptation: A narrative analysis of interpersonal conflicts during early adolescence. Social Development, 11(2), 205–224.
Yonas, M. A., O'Campo, P., Burke, J. G., Peak, G., & Gielen, A. C. (2005). Urban youth violence: Do definitions and reasons for violence vary by gender? Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 82(4), 543–551.
Yoon, J. S., Barton, E., & Taiariol, J. (2004). Relational aggression in middle school: Educational implications of developmental research. Journal of Early Adolescence, 24(3), 303–318.
Yuan, Y. C. (2000). Multiple imputation for missing data: Concepts and new development. Paper presented at the 25th Annual SAS Users Group International Conference (SUGI 25), Indianapolis, IN.
Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J., Geiger, T. C., & Crick, N. R. (2005). Relational and physical aggression, prosocial behavior and peer relations: Gender moderation and bidirectional associations. Journal of Early Adolescence, 25(4), 421–452.
Acknowledgements
The Context of Adolescent Substance Use study was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01 DA16669) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (R49 CCV423114). We would like to thank Thad Benefield, John Hipp, and Bob Faris for their programming assistance, and Karl Bauman and Daniel Bauer for reviewing early drafts of this manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Karriker-Jaffe, K.J., Foshee, V.A., Ennett, S.T. et al. The Development of Aggression During Adolescence: Sex Differences in Trajectories of Physical and Social Aggression Among Youth in Rural Areas. J Abnorm Child Psychol 36, 1227–1236 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-008-9245-5
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-008-9245-5