The influence of neighborhood characteristics, peer delinquency, and attitudes approving of violence during adolescence on male-to-female intimate partner violence perpetration in young adulthood
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Allegra, Christine Marian. The influence of neighborhood characteristics, peer delinquency, and attitudes approving of violence during adolescence on male-to-female intimate partner violence perpetration in young adulthood. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T39022K3
TitleThe influence of neighborhood characteristics, peer delinquency, and attitudes approving of violence during adolescence on male-to-female intimate partner violence perpetration in young adulthood
DescriptionIntimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious crime and public health problem in the United States. Past research on neighborhood-, peer-, and individual-level predictors of IPV have been cross-sectional, and few studies have investigated all three predictors in one mediation model. Even fewer studies have been longitudinal or have examined associations separately by race. Using data from the Pittsburgh Youth Study, the purpose of this dissertation was to address these gaps in the literature. This dissertation examined the indirect effects of neighborhood disorder and the intervening mechanisms of attitudes approving of violence and peer delinquency on male-to-female physical IPV perpetration from adolescence into young adulthood. The analyses were run separately for Blacks and Whites. The findings showed that neighborhood disorder was not associated with any variables of interest for either Black or White respondents. Among perpetrators of physical IPV, greater neighborhood disorder was associated with more approving attitudes of violence for the White sample only. Due to the lack of statistically significant correlations among the variables included in the model, the hypothesized model was not tested. Two exploratory models examined whether peer delinquency mediated the relationship between attitudes approving of violence and IPV perpetration for the White sample. The exploratory models were not tested for the Black sample because no statistically significant relationships had been found. The results of both exploratory analyses indicated that for White adolescents, attitudes that were more accepting of violence were associated with having more delinquent peers, and in turn, the association with delinquent peers was related to higher levels of IPV perpetration in young adulthood. The strength of the indirect effect of attitudes on IPV perpetration was stronger in the model that examined attitudes approving of violence and peer delinquency at the same point in time (mean of ages 16 and 17) than in the model that examined attitudes approving of violence at mean age 16 and peer delinquency at mean age 17. These results highlight a need to provide IPV-prevention strategies that target attitudes toward violence and associations with delinquent peers during adolescence.