Exposure to Family Violence and Adolescent Aggression in Multiple Social Contexts: Classroom Social Resources as Moderators

Abstract

Using a risk and resilience framework, the present study examined perceived classroom social resources (teacher control, teacher-student support, and supportive student-student relationships) as moderators of the association between family violence (parent-to-child physical violence, intimate partner violence (IPV) between parents) and aggression toward parents, schoolteachers, and dating partners. Data were drawn from a large self-report school survey of ninth grade students in Lower Saxony, Germany (n = 10,638) from which three subsamples were generated (n = 3548, n = 3534, and n = 4351). Controlling for demographic, behavioral, and school factors, results showed that parent-to-child physical violence was consistently related to aggression across social contexts, while IPV showed significant associations with adolescent-to-parent physical aggression. Against expectations, teacher control was linked with more frequent verbal aggression toward dating partners, while teacher-student suppport was associated with lower verbal aggression across contexts as well as with lower physical aggression toward dating partners. Supportive student-student relationships were associated with less frequent verbal aggression toward parents and dating partners as well as with less frequent physical aggression toward teachers. Furthermore, three significant interaction terms were identified: Students exposed to more frequent IPV and perceiving higher-quality classroom resources (teacher control and supportive student-student relationships) reported less aggression toward parents than at-risk students who perceived classroom resources as low. Intervention programs may benefit from an approach that aims to reduce exposure to violence in the family, while targeting the buffering potential of teacher control and student-student relationships regarding aggression toward parents.