Community Violence Exposure and Adolescents' School Engagement and Academic Achievement Over Time.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the relationships between community violence exposure and two related, but meaningfully distinct, academic outcomes: school engagement and academic achievement (GPA). Psychological symptoms were investigated as mediators of these relationships. METHOD: One hundred eighteen youth reported on community violence exposure and school engagement twice during adolescence, and both parents and adolescents reported on psychological symptoms. Cumulative GPA was also acquired from participants. A path model and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to assess these relationships longitudinally. RESULTS: Earlier community violence exposure inversely predicted later school engagement, but earlier school engagement did not predict later community violence exposure. School engagement mediated the association between community violence exposure and school GPA. Internalizing and externalizing symptoms, but not posttraumatic stress symptoms, mediated the association between community violence and school engagement. CONCLUSIONS: When adolescents are exposed to community violence, they may become vulnerable to a cascade of events including psychological symptoms and decreased connectedness to school, which ultimately can lead to overall poor academic achievement. The more proximal, changeable experiences of school connectedness and psychological symptoms offer targets for interventions offsetting long-term adverse academic consequences in violence-exposed youth.

Electronic Aggression Among Emerging Adults: Motivations and Contextual Factors.

The present study used quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate contextual factors and motivations associated with emerging adults' electronic aggression victimization and perpetration with friends and dating partners. Participants (N = 226) reported online about electronic aggression occurrence and motivations, family risk, support from friends, and emotion regulation. Males reported more victimization than perpetration overall, whereas females reported more victimization than perpetration only with friends. Jealousy/insecurity emerged as the most common motivation for electronic perpetration; second most common was humor for males and negative emotion for females. Overall, risky family environment was associated with electronic aggression; yet, support from friends and emotion regulation each moderated this association. Discussion addresses potential miscommunications that can occur in electronic communication and the need to look at the interplay between in-person and online interactions.