Adolescent Fighting: Racial/Ethnic Disparities and the Importance of Families and Schools

Shetgiri, Rashmi; Kataoka, Sheryl; Ponce, Ninez; Flores, Glenn; Chung, Paul J.

doi:10.1016/j.acap.2010.06.004

« Previous Next »Academic Pediatrics
Volume 10, Issue 5 , Pages 323-329, September 2010

Adolescent Fighting: Racial/Ethnic Disparities and the Importance of Families and Schools

Presented in part as a platform presentation at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies, May 2, 2009, Baltimore, Md.

Division of General Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, UT Southwestern Medical Center, and Children's Medical Center, Dallas, Tex (Drs Shetgiri and Flores); UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Los Angeles, Calif (Dr Kataoka); UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and UCLA School of Public Health, Department of Health Services, Los Angeles, Calif (Dr Ponce); and UCLA Department of Pediatrics, Los Angeles, Calif, and RAND, Santa Monica, Calif (Dr Chung)

Received 8 March 2010; accepted 4 June 2010. published online 02 August 2010.

Abstract

Objective

To identify factors associated with fighting among African American, Asian/Pacific Islander, Latino, and white youth, with a focus on family and school connectedness.

Methods

Subjects were 4010 adolescents (12–17 years old) from the 2003 California Health Interview Survey. Stratified logistic regression examined whether fighting in the past year was associated with various risk and protective factors among African American, Asian/Pacific Islander, Latino, and white youth subsamples.

Results

Fighting was reported by 27% of African American, 24% of Latino, 16% of white, and 6% of Asian/Pacific Islander youth. Male gender, alcohol use, and smoking were associated with higher odds of fighting among whites and Latinos. Poverty was associated with higher odds of fighting among whites and African Americans, as was depression among Latinos. Higher family support was associated with decreased odds of fighting for white youth. Higher school support was associated with decreased odds of fighting for Latino youth.

Conclusions

A higher proportion of African American and Latino youth report fighting than do whites and Asians/Pacific Islanders. There is, however, important variation in racial/ethnic disparities in risk and protective factors associated with fighting. Family and school factors may be protective against fighting. Prevention and intervention efforts to decrease youth violence might benefit from tailoring to communities' racial/ethnic composition and paying greater attention to family and community influences on adolescent fighting.

Keywords: adolescent, disparities, family, schools, violence