Exposure to Community Violence: Processes That Increase the Risk for Inner-City Middle School Children

An ecologically framed model is presented describing processes accounting for early adolescents’ exposure to community violence in high-risk neighborhoodsas a function of risk factors in four ecological domains assessed in the prior year. The model was tested for hypothesized pathways along which the combined domains of risk might operate. The children were interviewed about their exposure to community violence. Data on the risk factors were obtained from the children themselves and their parents, classmates, and teachers. All four domains—family and household context, negative parenting, deviant behavior of friends, and the children’s own behavioral characteristics and cognition—contributed to the children’s risk for exposure 1 year later. As hypothesized, deviant behavior of friends and the children’s own behavior and cognition were found to mediate the effects of stressful family and household context and negative parenting on later risk for exposure.