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Panel information
Panel 6. Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract

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Delinquent and violent behaviors are associated with behavioral patterns that hinder quality functioning in familial and social environments (Wall and Barth, 2005) and oftentimes are characterized by repetitive occurrences in social and criminal aspects (Azeredo et al., 2019). Previous literature suggests that youth exposed to violence are at an elevated risk for developing persistent delinquent and violent behaviors (Connolly and Kavish, 2018), particularly, if this violence exposure stems from individuals within a youth’s home environment (Nisar et al., 2015). As need for recognizing factors that may increase youth’s involvement in delinquent and violent behaviors have become evident in Juvenile Justice sectors, the influence of witnessing violence in the home merits further investigation for prediction analysis. For the present study, delinquent and violent behavior self-report ratings from youth across the U.S. at ages 16 and 18 and witnessing violence in the home self-report rating at age 16 were obtained from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN).
Moderation analysis (n = 76) examined the influence of Delinquent and Violent Behaviors at 16 on Delinquent and Violent Behaviors at 18 and whether Witnessing Violence in the Home at 16 significantly moderated this association. The interaction effect was significant ( = .15, p = .03), see Table 1. Notably, without the interaction term, there was not a significant main effect of Delinquent and Violent Behaviors at 16 ( = .21, p = .15). Additionally, there was not a significant main effect of Witnessing Violence in the Home at 16 uniquely predicting Delinquent and Violent Behaviors at 18 ( = -.39, p = .15). Simple slope analysis also revealed for individuals with lower witnessing violence in the home levels (Z at -1SD), the association was non-significant ( = -.11, p = .63. However, at higher witnessing violence in the home levels (Z at +1SD), each additional unit of witnessing violence in the home was associated with a significant increase in delinquent and violent behaviors at 18 ( =,63, p = .005), see Table 2. This indicates the profound effect of witnessing violence in the home in elevated occurrences on delinquent and violent behaviors in youth.
These findings suggest that there is no direct effect of delinquent and violent behaviors or witnessing violence in the home at 16 on uniquely predicting delinquent and violent behaviors at 18. Rather, the interaction between both variables at 16 is the significant predictor of delinquent and violent behaviors at 18. Further, the effect of higher-than-average witnessing violence in the home on delinquent and violent behaviors at 18 is a result worthy of further investigation.
These findings highlight the significant impact of directly witnessing violence in the home on adolescents’ externalizing behaviors, indicating that such exposure can lead to persistent involvement in delinquent and violent behaviors well into young adulthood. Future studies should investigate possible interventions that may buffer the influence of witnessing violence in the home and the effect of high occurrences of witnessing such violences on youth’s mental wellbeing.

Author information

Author	Role
Savannah Janay Woods, University of South Carolina	Presenting author
Michelle Brown, University of South Carolina	Non-presenting author
Diamonde McCollum, University of South Carolina	Non-presenting author

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