Numerous studies and a major review have tied heightened probability of involvement in antisocial behavior, including violence, to the adolescent years (Moffitt, 1993; Tolan & GormanSmith, 1997). Integral to these studies has been the consideration that adolescence is a time when behavioral patterns related to violence first emerge and then reach their peak prevalence, with violent crimes being rare prior to adolescence and then diminishing substantially after this age period (Elliott & Tolan, 1998). In addition, there is a need to consider not just the average level or the greatest level of violence but the growth in involvement in violence over that time. Furthermore, even among those exhibiting
extreme levels of and chronicity in antisocial behavior during adolescence, violent behaviors are rare. Thus, an understanding of developmental risk is enhanced by examining not just the level of violence but its growth pattern over the time when increases in violent behavior are most likely (late adolescence). Therefore, in this study we used longitudinal data to examine growth patterns in violence, both among peers and in individual youths, and the relation between these growth patterns.