Few researchers have explored future educational aspirations as a promotive factor against
exposure to community violence in relation to adolescents' violent behavior over time. The
present study examined the direct and indirect effect of exposure to community violence
prior to 9th grade on attitudes about violence and violent behavior in 12th grade, and
violent behavior at age 22 via 9th grade future educational aspirations in a sample of urban
African American youth (n ¼ 681; 49% male). Multi-group SEM was used to test the
moderating effect of gender.
Exposure to violence was associated with lower future educational aspirations. For boys,
attitudes about violence directly predicted violent behavior at age 22. For boys, future
educational aspirations indirectly predicted less violent behavior at age 22. Implications of
the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.
© 2015 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier