A R T I C L E AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR IN RESPONSE TO VIOLENCE EXPOSURE: IS IT ADAPTIVE FOR MIDDLE-SCHOOL CHILDREN? Suzanne Salzinger New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University Department of Psychiatry Margaret Rosario City University of New York – City College and Graduate Center Richard S. Feldman New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University Department of Psychiatry Daisy S. Ng-Mak Merck Pharmaceuticals The role of aggression in adaptation to family and community violence was examined in a sample of 667 inner-city schoolchildren studied annually over three years in middle school. Regression analyses indicated that the association between Year 1 exposure to family and community violence and Year 2 aggression was mediated by aggression occurring contemporaneously with Year 1 exposure. Cognitive justification of aggression and friends’ delinquency made small independent contribu- tions to prediction of Year 2 aggression, delinquency, and externalizing behaviors. Year 2 aggression mediated the association between Year 1 community violence victimization and Year 3 negative adaptation (internalizing problems, anxiety, and depression). Year 2 aggression also mediated the negative association between Year 1 witnessing community violence and Year 3 positive adaptation (self-esteem). Cognitive justification of aggression and friends’ delinquency made independent Support was provided by NIMH Grant ]5 R01 MH056198 01–04 (principal investigator: Suzanne Salzinger, Ph.D.). Grateful acknowledgement is made to Tanya Stockhammer, Ph.D., our study coordinator, to the children and parents who participated in the study, and to the New York City Department of Education. Correspondence to: Suzanne Salzinger, New York State Psychiatric Institute, 1051 Riverside Drive (unit 56), New York, NY 10032. E-mail: ss73@columbia.edu. JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Vol. 36, No. 8, 1008–1025 (2008) Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). & 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. DOI: 10.1002/jcop.20275