INTERPERSONAL AGGRESSION IN URBAN MINORITY YOUTH: MEDIATORS OF PERCEIVED NEIGHBORHOOD, PEER, AND PARENTAL INFLUENCES

This study examined perceived social environment and personal control variables as predictors of interpersonal aggression in urban minority youth. Perceived environmental factors included neighborhood risk, friends' delinquency, and parental monitoring practices, which were examined as direct predictors of aggression and as indirect predictors mediated by anger control skills and risk-taking characteristics. The sample consisted of 452 primarily African-American sixth-graders attending New York City public schools. Structural equation modeling indicated that better perceived parental monitoring practices were directly associated with less aggression and had an indirect effect that was mediated by better anger control skills. Perceived neighborhood risk and friends' delinquency were directly associated with more aggression and had indirect effects that were mediated by greater individual risk-taking. Implications of these findings for prevention interventions are discussed. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.