The Longitudinal Relation Between Community Violence Exposure and Academic Engagement During Adolescence: Exploring Families’ Protective Role

Abstract

Few published studies have examined the interaction between community violence exposure, academic engagement, and parental involvement, despite theory suggesting that these three domains of development are interrelated during adolescence. This study had two related objectives: (a) to assess the temporal ordering of the relation between community violence exposure and academic engagement over the course of mid-adolescence and (b) to examine whether the pattern of these relations varies by level of parental involvement. The study sample included 273 ethnic minority males (33.4% Latino and 65.6% African American) and their caregivers living in impoverished urban neighborhoods. The present study drew on data collected through in-home surveys on violence exposure, school experiences, and family functioning at three time points during mid-adolescence. Cross-lagged model results suggest that at Time 1 (M age = 13.5), community violence exposure predicted lower academic engagement at Time 2 (M age = 14.8). Between Time 2 and Time 3 (M age = 15.8), it was academic engagement that predicted lower community violence. Parental involvement moderated these relations such that academic engagement at Time 2 only reduced the risk of violence exposure at Time 3 in the presence of families with high levels of involvement relative to others in the sample. Findings suggest that practitioners might seek to promote positive school experiences as youth move into high school to reduce risk of violence exposure. Results also indicate the importance of designing interventions that target both positive family and school functioning.