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The Mediated Effect of Contextual Risk Factors on Trajectories of Violence: Results from a Nationally Representative, Longitudinal Sample of Hispanic Adolescents

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Abstract

The current study sought to estimate trajectories of violent behavior and evaluate the direct and indirect effects of contextual factors among Hispanics, stratified by gender. Relying on data from 3,719 Hispanic adolescents surveyed as a part of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), violence trajectories were estimated using group-based trajectory modeling. The results identified three groups of violence trajectories for both males and females (non-violent, desistors, and escalators) and there were considerable gender differences in the direct and indirect effects of risk and protective factors on violent behavior. Study limitations and policy implications are also discussed.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by Award Numbers K01 AA017480 (PI: Mildred Maldonado-Molina) from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute on alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institute of Health.

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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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Medicine, Department of Health Outcomes and Policy and Institute for Child Health Policy, University of Florida, 1329 SW 16th St. Room 5130, PO Box 100177, Gainesville, FL, 32610-0177, USA

    Jennifer M. Reingle & Mildred M. Maldonado-Molina

  2. College of Behavioral and Community Sciences, Department of Criminology, SOC 326, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 33620, USA

    Wesley G. Jennings

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  1. Jennifer M. Reingle
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  2. Wesley G. Jennings
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  3. Mildred M. Maldonado-Molina
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Correspondence to Jennifer M. Reingle.

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Reingle, J.M., Jennings, W.G. & Maldonado-Molina, M.M. The Mediated Effect of Contextual Risk Factors on Trajectories of Violence: Results from a Nationally Representative, Longitudinal Sample of Hispanic Adolescents. Am J Crim Just 36, 327–343 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-011-9138-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-011-9138-y

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