Violence and intentional injury account for the second and third leading causes of death in US adolescents, and a major proportion of adolescent morbidity. Many reports on youth violence focus on older adolescents; data on young adolescents’ violent behavior are less common. This presentation describes the frequency and distribution of self-reported fighting and violent behavior in a large sample of ethnically diverse young adolescents. As a part of the baseline survey for the Teens Eating for Energy and Nutrition at School (TEENS) project, a group-randomized school-based intervention trial in Minneapolis/St. Paul, 3757 seventh graders (males=1901; females=1856) from 16 middle schools completed a past-year fighting and violent behavior scale. Fighting and violent behavior was more commonly reported by boys: 53.8% of boys and 33.1% of girls reported at least one episode of such behavior in the past year, and boys scored twice as high as girls on the overall scale (boys’ mean=1.69, SD=2.85; girls’ mean=0.80, SD=1.69; p<0.001). Forty-two percent of 12 year-olds and 47% of 13 year-olds reported some violent behavior in the past year; this pattern was consistent across sexes. The proportion of youth reporting some violent behavior in the past year was inversely associated with socioeconomic status (low SES=52%, moderate SES=42%, high SES=36%). Compared to adolescents who reported no violent behavior in the past year, those who reported at least one episode were more likely to report past-month substance use, purging behavior, and elevated depressive symptomatology. Multivariate analysis including demographic, social environmental and psychosocial variables will also be presented.
Learning Objectives: 1. Attendees will be able to describe patterns in young adolescents' violent behavior, including differences by sex, age and socioceconomic status. 2. Attendees will be able to identify behavioral and psychosocial correlates of young adolescents' use of violent behavior and fighting. 3. Attendees will be able to identify aspects of young adolescents' social environment that are associated with fighting and violent behavior
Keywords: Adolescents, Violence
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.