Childhood trauma and exposure to violence as predictors of aggression: an explanatory model in peruvian adolescents

Participants and Setting: The study included 513 adolescents (52% boys and 48% girls) aged 12 to 17 years (M = 15.00, SD = 1.58) recruited from four districts in Lima Norte, Perú.

Methods

Participants completed three standardized self-report measures assessing childhood trauma, exposure to violence, and aggression. Data were analyzed using covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM), including multigroup analyses by sex and developmental stage. Results: The overall model demonstrated satisfactory fit and explained 76.2% of the variance in aggression (R² = .762).

Childhood trauma emerged as a strong and statistically significant predictor of aggression (β = .719, p < .001), whereas exposure to violence showed a weaker but statistically significant association (β = .184, p < .001). Multigroup analyses indicated that childhood trauma had a stronger association with aggression among girls and late adolescents, whereas exposure to violence was more strongly associated with aggression among boys and early adolescents.

Conclusions: Childhood trauma and exposure to violence jointly and significantly explain aggression among Peruvian adolescents, although their relative contributions vary according to sex and developmental stage. These findings underscore the importance of considering developmental and sex-specific pathways when investigating adolescent aggression and designing prevention strategies.