Early community violence exposure and adolescent aggressive behavior

Childhood community violence exposure (CVE) is longitudinally associated with later aggression, but questions remain regarding how CVE influences different forms (i.e., physical and relational) and functions (i.e., proactive and reactive) of aggression. Additionally, the moderating influence of children's autonomic nervous system reactivity to fear on associations between CVE and aggression subtypes remains unclear. The present study investigated the joint role of CVE and autonomic nervous system reactivity to fear at age 7 in the development of aggression subtypes across 5 years in a diverse community sample of 197 children (50% assigned female, 46% Latine). Results indicated CVE was longitudinally related to greater reactive physical aggression among boys exhibiting parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) inhibition but lower reactive physical aggression among boys exhibiting PNS activation. Conversely, CVE predicted greater proactive relational aggression for girls exhibiting sympathetic nervous system (SNS) inhibition but not for girls exhibiting SNS activation. Several interactions among CVE, SNS reactivity, and PNS reactivity also emerged. CVE was longitudinally associated with greater proactive relational aggression among boys exhibiting coactivation (i.e., increases in SNS and PNS activation) and with lower proactive relational aggression among boys with reciprocal SNS activation (i.e., SNS activation with PNS inhibition). In contrast, CVE was linked to greater reactive physical aggression among girls with reciprocal SNS activation and with lower reactive physical aggression among girls with coinhibition (i.e., SNS inhibition with PNS inhibition). These findings suggest distinct pathways from CVE to aggression based on gender and autonomic nervous system reactivity, highlighting the need for targeted, context-sensitive interventions that address both environmental and physiological factors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)

Aggression · Autonomic nervous system · Injury prevention · Moderation · Poison control · Psychological intervention · Reactivity (psychology · Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development · Stress Responses and Cortisol