COMMUNITY AND DATING VIOLENCE AMONG ADOLESCENTS - PERPETRATION AND VICTIMIZATION

Purpose: Adolescents are both the perpetrators and victims of violence in the United States. To reduce violence, it is important to identify those most at risk within particular contexts. Methods: A social lear ning framework was used to investigate involvement in violence in a su rvey of 719 high school students. Four outcomes (community violence pe rpetration, community violence victimization, Spouse abuse dating viol ence perpetration, and dating violence victimization) were examined as a function of demographic characteristics, exposure to violence, and several potential mediating variables. Results: Exposure to weapons an d violent injury in the community was the sole consistent predictor ac ross the four outcomes. Gender generally was an important correlate of violence; there were substantial gender differences in the correlates of dating violence perpetration and victimization, but relatively few gender differences in the correlates of community violence involvemen t. Other demographic characteristics typically were of limited importa nce, and were largely accounted for by exposure to violence or other m ediators. Personal norms about the circumstances under which the use o f violence is perceived as justified were important for three of the f our outcomes: community violence perpetration, and dating violence per petration and victimization. Conclusions: Being exposed to violence in one context appears to have crossover effects to victimization and pe rpetration in another context. Furthermore, victimization and perpetra tion often co-occur. (C) Society for Adolescent Medicine, 1997.