Association between early exposure to violence in mid-adolescence and later pro-violence beliefs in early adulthood among inner-city individuals

Background/Purpose: Youth Violence is the leading cause of death for young African American males. Exposure to violence during adolescence is a risk factor for negative outcomes; its relationship to violence in adulthood is poorly understood, with inconsistent findings in the literature. The objective is to describe the association between earlier trajectories of adolescent exposure to violence and later pro-violent beliefs.

Methods: Using longitudinal data (12 waves) and growth curve modeling, we examined the association between violence exposure (i.e., violence observation, victimization, and family conflict) for four years in adolescence (M_age = 14.9-17.9) and the trajectory of pro-violence beliefs in adulthood among urban, African American youth (N=637, 51% female, M_age = 20.1-34.1).

Results/Outcomes: Findings suggest a positive and significant association between violence exposure during mid-adolescence and pro-violence beliefs during early adulthood. Those with increasing exposure to violence during the first four years of high school had higher pro-violence beliefs in early adulthood.

Conclusions: The findings indicate that those with an increasing trajectory of violence exposure early in life are associated with increasing rates of pro-violence beliefs into adulthood. With these findings, interventions could be aimed at those youth exposed to elevated cumulative levels of exposure. To our knowledge, this is the first time the trajectory of early exposure to violence has been investigated as a risk factor for a later trajectory of pro-violence beliefs using longitudinal data. Moreover, this study follows participants for several decades, whereas most longitudinal studies rarely follow participants for this length of time.