Psychology Undergraduate Research Symposium 2022

Relationship between Early Exposure to Violence and Later Antisocial and Criminal Behavior

Exposure to community violence (ECV) has been associated with a plethora of negative mental health outcomes, such as externalizing behaviors. The present study investigated the correlation between early ECV and antisocial behavior in young adulthood as well as the likelihood of holding an arrest record. A sibling fixed-effect analysis was conducted to strengthen the findings of this correlational study. After analyzing data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (AddHealth), it was found that exposure to gun or knife violence over 15 years was correlated with increased antisocial behavior in young adulthood, and increased likelihood of holding an arrest record in an unadjusted model. More research with a larger sample with criminal history is necessary to associate exposure to violence with increased odds of arrest. Study limitations as well as effective interventions based on the findings are discussed.

PRESENTED BY
PURM - Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program
College of Arts & Sciences 2022
Advised By
Sara Jaffee
Director of Graduate Studies
PRESENTED BY
PURM - Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program
None
College of Arts & Sciences 2022
Advised By
Sara Jaffee
Director of Graduate Studies

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