Ecological promotive and protective factors deterring gun carriage for young adults living in communities with high rates of community violence

Abstract

This study identified promotive and protective factors that lessened the likelihood of handgun carriage in a sample of 141 predominantly Black (97%) young adults (ages 18–22) living in high burden communities experiencing elevated rates of violence. Participants completed surveys assessing overall risk and protective factors for violence across ecological contexts (e.g., individual/peer, family, school, and community). A series of regression and moderation analyses were conducted to ascertain direct (promotive) and indirect (protective) relations between factors across the ecological model and likelihood of gun carriage. Results indicated that (1) consistent with previous studies, both witnessing violence and violence victimization were significant risk factors for handgun carriage, (2) ethnic identity was a significant promotive factor related to a lower likelihood of handgun carriage, and (3) lack of family conflict, student status, and community assets were significant protective factors where higher levels of these factors attenuated the relation between exposure to community violence and likelihood of gun carriage. This is one of the first strengths‐based studies examining factors that may mitigate the likelihood of gun carriage for young adults in high risk contexts. Our findings suggest that gun violence prevention efforts for high burden communities should support young adults by strengthening factors across the ecological model (e.g., individual, family, school, and community).

Identifying Protective Factors That Mitigate Relations Between Experiences with Violence and Gun Carriage for Black Young Adults Living in Economically Marginalized Urban Communities

“…Additionally, correlations between the study variables (with Bonferroni correction (p < .000125)) are presented in Table 1. A previous study with this dataset also found direct relations between ethnic identity and gun carriage such that young adults with higher ethnic identity were less likely to report carrying a gun (Ross et al, 2023).…”

“…At the individual-level, Carter et al (2020) found that positive coping skills and high self-efficacy were negatively related to gun carriage. A previous investigation (using the dataset in the current study) identified ethnic identity as a promotive factor for gun carriage (Ross et al, 2023). That study also identified protective factors including lack of family conflict, student status, and community assets that moderated relations between community violence exposure and the likelihood of gun carriage (Ross et al, 2023).…”

“…A previous investigation (using the dataset in the current study) identified ethnic identity as a promotive factor for gun carriage (Ross et al, 2023). That study also identified protective factors including lack of family conflict, student status, and community assets that moderated relations between community violence exposure and the likelihood of gun carriage (Ross et al, 2023). The present study extended the literature in this area by identifying protective factors that moderated relations between peer-based physical and relational victimization/aggression and gun carriage.…”

“…The high prevalence of gun carriage is concerning based on its association with gun violence and injury (Carter et al, 2020; Oliphant et al, 2019). The primary reason that young adults reported carrying a gun was for protection (i.e., to protect family—60%, friends 65%, their business 22%, and neighborhood 23%) and gun carriage may be high in light of the elevated rates of community violence reported (i.e., 92% reporting witnessing and 63% reporting being a victim of community violence in the past 3 months) (Ross et al, 2023). These endorsements of gun carriage as necessary in the neighborhood are consistent with prior literature describing the use of guns for defense (Sokol et al, 2022).…”

“…Young adults who engage in aggression or delinquency are at risk for gun carriage (Emmert et al, 2018). Although past research with youth samples showed associations between community violence exposure (i.e., violent victimization and witnessing violence) and outcomes including in-person and cyber peer aggression/victimization (Sullivan et al, 2023) as well as gun carriage (Ross et al, 2023), peer-based physical and relational aggression/victimization have not been explored as risk factors for gun carriage among young adults. Prior studies have identified etiology differences between peer-based physical and relational aggression and victimization in adolescence (Farrell et al, 2020), though less so in young adulthood.…”