Assessing exposure to violence using multiple informants: Application of hierarchical linear model

The present study assesses the effects of demographic risk factors on child ren's exposure to violence (ETV) and how these effects vary by informants. Data on exposure to Violence of 9-, 12-, and 15-year-olds were collected fr om both child participants (N = 1880) and parents (N = 1776), as part of th e assessment of the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods ( PHDCN). A two-level hierarchical linear model (HLM) with multivariate outco mes was employed to analyze information obtained from these two different g roups of informants. The findings indicate that parents generally report le ss ETV than do their children and that associations of age, gender, and par ent education with ETV are stronger in the self-reports than in the parent reports. The findings support a multivariate approach when information obta ined from different sources is being integrated. The application of HLM all ows an assessment of interactions between risk factors and informants and u ses all available data, including data from one informant when data from th e other informant is missing.