Adolescent Exposure to Violence and Adult Violent Victimization and Offending

• Author: Andrea J. Weiss,Scott Menard,Robert J. Franzese,Herbert C. Covey
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016816679228
• Published date: 01 March 2017
• Date: 01 March 2017
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Adolescent Exposure to

Violence and Adult Violent

Victimization and Offending

Robert J. Franzese

1

, Scott Menard

2

,

Andrea J. Weiss

3

, and Herbert C. Covey

4

Abstract

Research on the effects of child abuse and of childhood and adolescent exposure to domestic

violence or community violence has generally, with some exceptions, found them to be related to

subsequent negative behavioral outcomes, such as crime, delinquency, and substance abuse. This

study uses longitudinal self-report data from the National Youth Survey Family Study to investigate

how being physically abused by parents, witnessing violence between parents, and exposure to

violence in the neighborhood are related to violent victimization and offending in middle adulthood,

controlling for prior involvement in the outcome behaviors in adolescence. Physical abuse and

witnessing parental violence appear to have little direct impact on adult violent offending and vic-

timization net of the impact of adolescent violent victimization more generally; but adolescent

exposure to neighborhood violence does appear to be predictive of adult violent victimization and

offending for female respondents.

Keywords

violent behavior, family/domestic violence, criminal victimization, gender and crime/justice,

quantitative methods

Individuals exposed to or involved in violent behavior in adolescence as victims, perpetrators, and

witnesses in the family and community contexts are at risk of adult exposure to violence as both

victims and offenders. Rebellon and Van Gundy (2005), using a national sample, found that physical

abuse by parents in adolescence was associated with subsequent adolescent involvement in violent

and property offending. Widom (1989), Widom and Maxfield (1996), and Zingraff, Leiter, Myers,

and Johnsen (1993) found that physical abuse in childhood and adolescence was associated with

subsequent arrests for criminal violence and other criminal behavior. Witnessing parental violence

1

University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA

2

University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA

3

Worcester County Sheriff’s Department, Boylston, MA, USA

4

Adams County Department of Human Services, Commerce City, CO, USA

Corresponding Author:

Scott Menard, 1965 Table Mesa Drive, Boulder, CO 80305, USA.

Email: scotmenard@aol.com

Criminal Justice Review

2017, Vol. 42(1) 42-57

ª2016 Georgia State University

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DOI: 10.1177/0734016816679228

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has also been examined as a risk factor for subsequent violence, but primarily in the short term, and

in relation specifically to intimate partner violence (IPV) rather than violence more generally

(Herrenkohl, Sousa, Tajima, Herrenkohl, & Moylan, 2008; Kolbo, Blakely, & Engleman, 1996;

Wolfe, Crooks, Lee, McIntyre-Smith, & Jaffe, 2003). The results for witnessing parental violence as

a risk factor for subsequent violence tend to be equivocal (Kolbo et al., 1996), with some studies

indicating that witnessing parental violence does (Bensley, Van Eenwyk, & Simmons, 2003;

Ehrensaft et al., 2003) and other studies indicating that it does not (Bevan & Higgins, 2002; Mihalic

& Elliott, 1997a) have a significant direct impact on subsequent IPV including adult IPV. Less

equivocal are the results regarding exposure to community violence, which has been found to be

associated with increases in later aggressive and violent behavior (Barroso et al., 2008; Boney-

McCoy & Finkelhor, 1995; Overstreet, 2000; Tremblay, 2000). Even more generally, not limited to

the family and community contexts, adolescent violent victimization in general is predictive of adult

violent victimization and offending, and adolescent violent offending is predictive of adult violent

offending (Menard, 2002).

The present study examines the long-term impact of (1) being physically abused by parents

during adolescence, (2) witnessing violence between parents, and (3) exposure to violence in the

neighborhood, on adult violent offending and violent victimization. We are interested in the

separate and combined impact of these three risk factors on adult violent victimization and

offending. This study extends prior literature in this area by examining the impacts of three risk

factors for adult violent victimization and offending together, in a national sample. The age range

covered for the predictors allows us to parallel other recent studies that have examined the impact

exposure to violence in a previously understudied phase of the life course, from early adolescence

and preadolescence (age 11) up to formal adulthood (age 21), on such adult outcomes as socio-

economic status attainment (Covey, Menard, & Franzese, 2013), IPV (Lackey, 2003; Menard,

Weiss, Franzese, & Covey, 2014), substance use (Menard, Covey, & Franzese, 2015; Thornberry,

Ireland, & Smith, 2001), and physical and mental health problems (Franzese, Covey, Tucker,

McCoy, & Menard, 2014; Zona & Milan, 2011). We control for prior violence perpetration and

victimization more generally. This allows us to see which (if any) of these risk factors, control-

ling for the others and also controlling for prior violence perpetration and victimization more

generally, has the strongest association with adult violent victimization and perpetration. By

examining victimization and perpetration separately, we are better able to differentiate which

risk factors are associated with each of the two outcomes, and therefore to identify potential

differential needs for intervention.

Specific hypotheses are (1) adolescent physical abuse leads to increased adult violence per-

petration and victimization, (2) witnessing parental violence leads to increased adult violence

perpetration and victimization, and (3) exposure to neighborhood violence leads to increased

adult violence perpetration and victimization. These hypotheses are consistent not only with past

research, reviewed below, but also with criminological theories, particularly general strain

theory and social learning theory. General strain theory (Agnew, 1985, 1992) predicts that

exposure to and/or inability to avoid noxious stimuli, including but not limited to adolescent

exposure to violence (hereafter AEV), may result in anger and perpetration of violence, more so

for males than for females because males are more likely to engage in externalizing behavior and

females in internalizing behavior in response to strain (Broidy & Agnew, 1997; Watts &

McNulty, 2013). Social learning theory (Akers, 1985; Bandura, 1977; see also Mihalic & Elliott,

1997a) suggests that violent behavior, like any other behavior, is learned through processes of

imitation, modeling, and reinforcement. AEV may thus result in violent victimization as well as

violent offending, when individuals exposed to aggressive and violent behavior come to view it

as socially acceptable or appropriate, leading them to more readily take on the roles of perpe-

trators or victims.

Franzese et al. 43