Aggression and environmental risk among low-income African-American youth

Purpose: This study examined the extent to which individual, family, and environmental factors discriminated between aggressive and nonaggressive African-American youth. Methods: One hundred fifty African-American boys and girls from eight housing communities in a medium sized Alabama central city were surveyed. From this nonrandom sample, information was collected concerning respondents' demographics, family characteristics, exposure(s) to violence, questions pertaining to weapon possession, and a peer-nominated question on aggression. Multivariate analysis was employed to differentiate aggressive from nonaggressive youth. Results: Discriminant function analysis found gender (males) and age (older) to be important discriminators between nonaggressive and aggressive youth. In addition, a significant amount of separation between these groups was accounted for by their varying degrees of exposure to violence, specifically as a witness to and victim of violence, and their possession of a weapon. Conclusions: Findings provide evidence that victimization and witnessing violence were significantly related to aggressive behavior among this sample of African-American youth. In addition, this study confirms the clinical significance of environment and its potential role in predicting physical health, mental health, and social and behavioral outcomes for youth. (C) Society for Adolescent Medicine, 1997.