Ethnic Identity as a Predictor of Attitudes of Adolescents Toward Fighting

Abstract

The purpose for this study was to examine to what extent ethnic identity would predict attitudes toward fighting among African American and Latino and Latina early adolescents (n = 330) in the presence of two factors, parental involvement and negative peer behaviors, which have emerged consistently as predictors of violent and antisocial behaviors among adolescents. Results indicated that for the African American participants, ethnic identity accounted for variation in their nonfighting attitudes beyond that accounted for by parental control and negative peer behaviors. Ethnic identity did not emerge as a predictor of attitudes toward fighting for the Latino and Latina adolescents. Girls from both ethnic groups reported higher endorsement of profighting attitudes than did boys. However, gender did not emerge as a statistically significant predictor of fighting attitudes in the presence of the other three predictor variables: ethnic identity, parental involvement, and negative peer behaviors.