Abstract
The purpose of this investigation was to determine if the Aban Aya Youth Project, a culturally grounded intervention, produced differences in changes over time in core intervening variables (i.e., communal value orientation, empathy, violence avoidance efficacy beliefs) and whether these variables mediated intervention effects on the development of youth violent behavior. Fifth grade cohorts at 12 schools were randomly assigned to one of two intervention conditions or an attention placebo control condition and followed longitudinally through eighth grade. A total of 668 students (49% male) participated in the study. Mediation analyses suggested that both program conditions (as compared to the control condition) led to steeper increases over time in empathy which, in turn were related to reductions in the likelihood of violent behavior over time. No other significant program effects were detected, although changes over time in violence avoidance efficacy were associated with reduced likelihood of violent behavior. Findings are discussed in terms of theory development, program development and points of refinement of the Aban Aya Youth Project and implications for future research.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
For consistency with other published work on the Aban Aya intervention on overall program effects (i.e., that did not assess mediation), we initially included intervention by gender interaction effects on mediators and outcomes and found that a) the interventions did not function significantly differently across gender in their direct effects on violent behavior after controlling for the mediators (as had been found previously outside the context of mediation) and b) there were no significant gender differences in program efficacy on the mediators examined in this study.
References
Bandura, A. (2001). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 1–26.
Banks, R., Houge, A., Timberlake, T., & Liddle, H. (1998). An Afrocentric approach to group social skills training with inner-city African-American adolescents. Journal of Negro Education, 65, 414–423.
Botvin, G. J, Schinke, S. P., Epstein, J. A., Diaz, T., & Botvin, E. M. (1995). Effectiveness of culturally focused and generic training approaches to alcohol and drug abuse prevention among minority adolescents: Two year follow up results. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 9, 183–194.
Bryant, B. K. (1982). An index of empathy for children and adolescents. Child Development, 53, 413–425.
Caprara, G. V., Regalia, C., & Bandura, A. (2002). Longitudinal impact of perceived self-regulatory efficacy on violent conduct. European Psychologist, 7, 63–69.
Catalano, R. F., Berglund, M., Ryan, J. A. M., Lonczak, H. S., & Hawkins, D. (1999). Positive youth development in the United States: Research findings on evaluations of positive youth development programs. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2004). Violence-related behaviors among high school students—United States, 1991–2003. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 53, 651–655.
Cheong, J. (2002). Investigation of a method to evaluate mediating mechanisms to reduce adolescent DUI in a school-based prevention program. Doctoral Dissertation, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ.
Cheong, J., MacKinnon, D. P., & Khoo, S. T. (2001). A latent growth modeling approach to mediation analysis. In L. Collins & A. Sayer (Eds.), New methods for the analysis of change (pp. 390–392). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Cheong, J., MacKinnon, D. P., & Khoo, S. T. (2003). Investigation of mediational processes using parallel process latent growth curve modeling. Structural Equation Modeling, 10, 238–262.
Chen, H.-T. (1990). Theory driven evaluations. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Clubb, P. A., Browne, D. C., Humphrey, A. D., Schoenbach, V., Meyer, B., Jackson, M., et al. (2001). Violent behavior in early adolescent minority youth: Results from a “middle school youth behavior survey.” Maternal and Child Health Journal, 5, 225–235.
Davis, M. H. (1983). Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 113–126.
Feshbach, N. (1975). Empathy in children: Some theoretical and empirical considerations. The Counseling Psychologist, 5, 25–30.
Flay, B. R., & Petraitis, J. (1994). The theory of triadic influences: A new theory of health behavior with implications for preventive interventions. In G. S. Albrecht (Ed.), Advances in medical sociology, Vol. IV: A reconsideration of models of health behavior change. Greenwich, CN: JAI Press.
Flay, B. R., Graumlich, S., Segawa, E., Burns, J. L., Holliday, M. Y., & the Aban Aya Investigators (2004). Effects of 2 prevention programs on high-risk behaviors among African American youth: A randomized trial. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 158, 377–384.
Graham, J., Flay, B. R., Johnson, C. A., Hansen, W. B., & Collins, L. M. (1984). Group comparability: A multi-attribute utility measurement approach to the use of random assignment with small numbers of aggregated units. Evaluation Review, 8, 247–260.
Greene, L. W., Smith, M. S., & Peters, S. R. (1995). “I have a future” comprehensive adolescent health promotion: Cultural considerations in program implementation and design. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 6, 267–281.
Hoffman, M. L. (2000). Empathy and moral development: Implications for caring and justice. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Humphries, M., Parker, B., & Jagers, R. J. (2000). Predictors of moral maturity among African American children. Journal of Black Psychology, 26, 51–64.
Jagers, R. J.(1997). Afrocultural integrity and the social development of African American children: Some conceptual, empirical, and practical considerations. Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community, 16, 7–34.
Jagers, R. J., & Mock, L. O. (1993). Culture and social outcomes among inner-city African American children: An Afrographic exploration. Journal of Black Psychology, 19, 391–405.
Jagers, R. J., & Mock, L. O. (1995) The Communalism Scale and collectivistic–individualistic tendencies: Some preliminary findings. Journal of Black Psychology, 21, 153–167.
Jagers, R. J., Mattis, J. S., & Walker, K. (2003). A cultural psychology framework for the study of morality and African American community violence. In D. F. Hawkins (Ed.), Violent crime: Assessing race and class differences. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Jagers, R. J., Sydnor, K., Mouttapa, M., & Flay, B. Protective factors against violent behavior: Preliminary work on a cultural model. American Journal of Community Psychology (in press)
Kann, L., Kinchen, S. A., Williams, B. I., Ross, J. G., Lowry, R., Grunbaum, J. A., et al. (2000). Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 1999. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 49, (SS05) 1–96.
Karenga, M. (1980) Kawaida theory: An introductory outline. Inglewood, CA: Kawaida.
Kaukiainen, A., Bjoerkqvist, K., Lagerspetz, K. Oesterman, K., Salmivalli, C., Rothberg, S., et al. (1999). The relationship between social intelligence, empathy and three types of aggression. Aggressive Behavior, 25, 81–89.
Kingery, P. M., Biafora, F. A., & Zimmerman, R. S. (1996). Risk factors for violent behaviors among ethnically diverse urban adolescents. School Psychology International, 17, 171–188.
Lewis, K. M., Sullivan, C. M., & Bybee, D. (2006). An experimental evaluation of a school based emancipatory intervention to promote African American well-being and youth leadership. Journal of Black Psychology, 32, 3–28.
MacKinnon, D. P., Fritz, M. S., Williams, J., & Lockwood, C. M. (2007). Distribution of the product confidence limits for the indirect effect program PRODCLIN. Behavior Research Methods (in press).
MacKinnon, D. P., & Lockwood, C. M. (2001). Distribution of the product of the mediated effect. (Unpublished manuscript)
MacKinnon, D. P., Lockwood, C. M., Hoffman, J. M., West, S. G., & Sheets, V. (2002). A comparison of methods to test mediation and other intervening variable effects. Psychological Methods, 7, 83–104.
MacKinnon, D. P., Lockwood, C. M., & Williams, J. (2004). Confidence limits for the indirect effect: Distribution of the product and resampling methods. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 39, 99–128.
McMahon, S. D., & Washburn, J. J. (2003). Violence prevention: An evaluation of program effects with urban African American students. Journal of Primary Prevention, 24, 43–62.
Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (1998–2004). MPlus user’s guide: The comprehensive modeling program for applied researchers (2nd ed.). Los Angeles: Muthén & Muthén.
Ngwe, J. E., Liu, L. C., Flay, B. R., Segawa, E., & Aban Aya Investigators (2004). Violence prevention among African American adolescent males. American Journal of Health Behavior, 28 (Supplement 1), s24–s37.
Patock-Peckham, J. A., & Morgan-Lopez, A. A. (2006). College drinking behaviors: Mediational links between parenting styles, impulse control, drinking control, and alcohol use and problems. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 20, 117–125.
Riner, M. E., & Saywell, R. M. (2002). Development of the social ecology model of adolescent interpersonal violence prevention (SEMAIVP). Journal of School Health, 72, 65–70.
Sams, D. P., & Truscott, S. D. (2004). Empathy, exposure to community violence and use of violence among urban, at risk adolescents. Child & Youth Care Forum, 33, 33–50.
Segawa, E., Ngwe, J. E., Li, Y., Flay, B. R., & Aban Aya Coinvestigators (2005). Evaluation of the effects of the Aban Aya Youth Project in reducing violence among African American adolescent males using latent class growth mixture modeling techniques. Evaluation Review, 29, 128–148.
Snyder, H. N., & Sickmund, M. (1999). Juvenile offenders and victims: 1999 national report. Washington, D.C.: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice.
Ward, J. V. (1995). Cultivating a morality of care in African American adolescents: A culture-based model of violence prevention. Harvard Educational Review, 65, 175–188.
Weissberg, R. P., & Greenberg, M. T. (1997). School and community competence-enhancement and prevention programs. In W. Damon, I. E. Sigel, & K. A. Renninger (Eds.) Handbook of child psychology: Vol 5. Child psychology in practice (5th ed., pp 877–954). New York: Wiley.
Acknowledgement
The Aban Aya Youth Project was supported by grants to Brian R. Flay (P.I.) from the Office of Minority Health administered by the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (U01HD30078) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA11019). Support for secondary analysis and manuscript preparation were provided to the first author by grants from the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities (P60-MD002217-01) and National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA12390).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Consortia
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jagers, R.J., Morgan-Lopez, A.A., Howard, TL. et al. Mediators of the Development and Prevention of Violent Behavior. Prev Sci 8, 171–179 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-007-0067-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-007-0067-4