Youth violence perpetration: what protects? What predicts? Findings from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health

Abstract

Purpose: To identify individual, family and community-level risk and protective factors for violence perpetration in a national sample of adolescents.

Methods: Analysis of two waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The key outcome variable was Time 2 violence involvement, approximately 1 year after initial data collection, measured by a validated scale of violence perpetration

Results: Controlling for demographic covariates in multivariate regression models, key Time 1 protective factors against Time 2 violence perpetration included measures related to parental expectations, connectedness with parents and other adults, and school, higher grade point average and religiosity. Significant predictive risk factors included a history of violence involvement and violence victimization, weapon carrying, school problems, substance use, health problems, and friend suicide. Probability profiles then assessed the ability of protective factors to offset known risk factors for violence. For both girls and boys there were substantial reductions in the percentage of youth involved in violence in the presence of protective factors, even with significant risk factors present.

Conclusions: Findings support the utility of a dual strategy of reducing risk factors while enhancing protective factors in the lives of adolescents.