Table 3.

Selected Themes and Quotes for Perspectives on Risk Factors for Fighting Among Adolescent Self-Reported Fighters and Self-Reported Non-fighters

Theme	Quote
Individual
Intrinsic desire to fight	People are just inherently territorial and they’re going to do what they have to do to get what they want or what they need. (Female, white, fighter)
Need to protect self and others	I fought some boy that messing with my cousin, she’s a girl. And I didn’t like that and I started fighting him. He busted my lip and I made his eyes swole, and he still wanted to fight. And I don’t care. (Male, Latino, fighter)
Perceived racism and discrimination	They have huge gang fights between blacks and Mexicans. They would pick a day, after school, and all the black people and the Mexicans go there just to fight. (Female, white, fighter)
Peer Relationships
Desire to gain or maintain respect among peers	It’s like a ranking in high school. If you win a fight, you up there, you big dog. If you lose a fight, you like a worm, you useless. If you win that fight, everybody gonna know you now. (Female, African American, non-fighter) When somebody put they hands on you, that’s when you defend yourself. I’m still gonna defend myself if I’m being disrespected. Part of having good character is being respectful. But if I’m gonna respect you, you gonna respect me. (Female, African American, fighter)
Negative peer groups provoke and encourage fights	It’s always a third person actually starting the mess. That person spreading rumors about those two people. “Oh, she said something about you,” or “I heard this about you.” (Male, African American, non-fighter) At first she was backing down, she didn’t want to fight the girl, but then her best friend just kept pumping her up, “Girl you gonna let her charge you up like that? You better get her.” (Female, African American, fighter)
Family Relationships
Fighters receive conflicting messages about fighting from family	My daddy never encourage fighting unless he was telling me if somebody hit you, you hit them back. My momma the same way. But it’s more my sisters and brothers that encourage you: “You let them talk to you like that? Go bust ‘em in the mouth.” (Female, African American, fighter)
Families of non-fighters condone fighting only in self-defense	My daddy told me, if somebody hit me, defend yourself. That’s why I sit back and say they can talk all they want to, but when they touch me, that’s when I’ll take off my extensions and we go post up right here. But if they just runnin’ their mouth, then whatever. (Female, African American, non-fighter)
Community
Exposure to violence normalizes fighting	It isn’t your fault if you just come from a place where a lot of violence is. Parents can have fights and stuff at home that are big, and their kids are just kinda there. Like that’s normal. (Female, white, non-fighter)
Fighters view authority figures as ineffective	We don’t call no law. Law ain’t fixin’ to do nothing. They gonna write a report, and you feel stupid for calling the law. That’s why you go take upon your own hands and go get what’s yours. (Male, African American, fighter)
Societal
Violent media and music encourage fighting	That song, they play that at a party, oh, it’s over! Somebody gonna fight. They heard people goin’ to jail and they go “I want to be like him, this guy been in jail 2 times and they happy.” (Female, African American, fighter)