Family closeness and bullying perpetration: The roles of associating with antisocial peers, bullying victimization, exposure to community violence, and gender differences among African American adolescents

Bullying victimization and perpetration negatively affect African American students' physical and mental health. Among the many risk factors associated with bullying behaviors, associating with antisocial peers, and exposure to community violence may function as important contextual risk factors, particularly among African American youth residing in underserved urban communities. However, few studies have explored the degree to which family closeness may mitigate these risk factors and serve as a potential promotive mechanism. The current study applies an ecological systems model to assess the nature of associations among adolescents' family, community, and peer contexts with bullying victimization and perpetration while assessing for gender differences (moderation). Results based on a sample of African American adolescents (n = 637, mean age = 15.83, SD = 1.39; 45.6% boys) indicated that for both boys and girls, indirect effects suggested that bullying victimization partially explained the association of associating with antisocial peers and community violence exposure on bullying perpetration. For boys, a significant indirect effect was found from family closeness to bullying perpetration via community violence exposure, and for girls, a direct effect was found from family closeness to bullying perpetration. These latter findings supported the potential promotive functioning of family closeness. Additional implications are discussed.