Abstract
We explore a model that examines how personal and environmental variables explain violent behavior by adolescents. Repeated interviews with youths from 1984–1992 from 10 cities across the United States provided the data. These interviews first occurred with 2,787 youths when they were adolescents (1984–85 and 1986–87) and the interviews were repeated on a subsample of 602 youths when they were young adults (1989–90 and 1991–92). Longitudinal multivariate analyses showed that almost a third of the variance in adolescent violent behaviors was predicted by a combination of personal variables (gender, substance misuse) and environmental variables (history of child abuse, stressful events, traumatic events, and city rates of unemployment). Further, almost a third of the variance in change in violent behaviors from year to year was predicted by prior violent behavior and a combination of personal variables (gender, suicidality, and substance misuse) and environmental variables (stressful events).
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Rubin Stiffman, A., Dore, P. & Cunningham, R.M. Violent behavior in adolescents and young adults: A person and environment model. J Child Fam Stud 5, 487–501 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02233867
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02233867