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Victimization, Parenting, and Externalizing Behavior Among Latino and White Adolescents

  • RESEARCH ON CHILD ABUSE, VICTIMIZATION AND FAMILIAL HOMICIDE
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Abstract

Given the large number of adolescents who have externalizing behavior problems and the increasing ethnic heterogeneity in many societies, it is important to examine whether the mechanisms underlying externalizing behavior are different among diverse groups. We specified separate models for ethnic groups and tested whether gender moderated the effect of victimization experiences and parent–child characteristics on externalizing behavior. The sample included 167 Latino and 625 White adolescents ages 10–17. For Latino adolescents, parental physical assault was related to more externalizing behavior for males and for females. More parental conflict and more criticism were related to less externalizing behavior for Latino females but not for Latino males. For White adolescents, all types of victimization (by parents, by siblings, by peers, witnessing domestic assault) and more parental conflict were related to more externalizing for males and for females. More monitoring was related to less externalizing behavior for White males but not for White females or for Latino adolescents. The intersection of ethnicity and gender may be important when examining adolescents’ externalizing behavior.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Iowa, School of Social Work, 308 North Hall, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA

    Carol Coohey & Lynette M. Renner

  2. Johns Hopkins University, School of Nursing, Baltimore, MA, USA

    Bushra Sabri

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  1. Carol Coohey
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  2. Lynette M. Renner
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  3. Bushra Sabri
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Correspondence to Carol Coohey.

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Author Note

With permission, data used in this article were made available by the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. Data from the Developmental Victimization Survey were originally collected by Heather Turner and David Finkelhor, University of New Hampshire. Their study was supported by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Neither the collector of the original data, the funder, the Archive, Cornell University, or its agents or employers bear any responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented here.

The authors would like to thank statisticians Rhonda R. DeCook and Maureen E. Tierney for reviewing our statistical analyses.

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Coohey, C., Renner, L.M. & Sabri, B. Victimization, Parenting, and Externalizing Behavior Among Latino and White Adolescents. J Fam Viol 28, 359–368 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-013-9503-3

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