Volume 32, Issue 2: April, 2005

Abstract

Predictors of Violent Behavior in an Early Adolescent Cohort: Similarities and Differences Across Genders

Jonathan L. Blitstein, PhD, David M. Murray, PhD, Leslie A. Lytle, PhD, Amanda S. Birnbaum, PhD, and Cheryl L. Perry, PhD

The authors assessed a cohort of 2,335 students from the Minneapolis, Minnesota, area to identify predictors of violent behavior and to determine whether the predictors varied by gender. The sample was 76% White; boys and girls were equally represented. The majority lived with two parents. A measure of violent behavior collected at the end of the eighth-grade year (2000) was entered into Poisson regression against baseline data collected at the beginning of the seventh-grade year (1998). Predictors of violent behavior influencing both boys and girls included depressive symptoms, perceived invulnerability to negative future events, paternal nonauthoritative behavior, and drinking alcohol. Additional predictors of violent behavior specific to girls included both risk and protective factors.