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Contextual Predictors of Adolescent Antisocial Behavior: The Developmental Influence of Family, Peer, and Neighborhood Factors

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Abstract

Numerous researchers have investigated risk factors for adolescent antisocial behavior (ASB) using social learning theory. Less attention has been directed to how these factors interact across time and context. Using this framework as well as social contextual theory, we examined 1,196 respondents from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to investigate the relations among parenting, peer, and community risk factors of youth ASB. We found that community violence exposure was a strong, direct predictor, and parental monitoring moderated the relation between community violence and ASB. Results suggested that social contextual theory provides a useful framework for predicting ASB.

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Acknowledgments

This research uses data from Add Health, a program project directed by Kathleen Mullan Harris and designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and funded by Grant P01-HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Special acknowledgment is due Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design. Information on how to obtain the Add Health data files is available on the Add Health website (http://www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth). No direct support was received from Grant P01-HD31921 for this analysis.

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Correspondence to Steven A. Meyers.

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This article was part of a doctoral dissertation by the first author conducted under the direction of the second author. The authors are grateful for the assistance of Emily Rischall for her assistance on this project.

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Slattery, T.L., Meyers, S.A. Contextual Predictors of Adolescent Antisocial Behavior: The Developmental Influence of Family, Peer, and Neighborhood Factors. Child Adolesc Soc Work J 31, 39–59 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-013-0309-1

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