Community and family violence: indirect effects of parental monitoring on externalizing problems

This study examines the mediating role of parenting on the relationship between exposure to violence and externalizing problems. Participants include 214 at-risk urban adolescents. Structured interviews assessed exposure to community and family violence, parental monitoring and warmth, as well as substance abuse and conduct problems. Structural equation modeling provided evidence of a mediation model that fits European Americans but is less predictive for African Americans. For European Americans, findings suggest greater exposure to community violence is associated with more externalizing problems, and also indirectly effects problems by disrupting parental monitoring. Although family violence relates to less parental warmth, no association exits between warmth and externalizing problems. Unmeasured variables that contribute to racial differences may explain how violence impacts African American teens.