Predictors of Weapon-Related Behaviors among African American, Latino, and White Youth

Abstract

Objective To identify risk and protective factors for weapon involvement among African-American, Latino, and white adolescents. Study design The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health is a nationally-representative survey of 7th–12th grade students. Predictors at Wave 1 and outcome at Wave 2 were analyzed. Data were collected in the mid-1990s, when rates of violent crime had been declining. The outcome was a dichotomous measure of weapon-involvement in the past year, created using 3 items (weapon-carrying, pulled gun/knife, shot/stabbed someone). Bivariate and multilevel logistic regression analyses examined associations of individual, peer, family, and community characteristics with weapon involvement; stratified analyses were conducted with African-American, Latino, and white subsamples. Results Emotional distress and substance use were risk factors for all groups. Violence exposure and peer delinquency were risk factors for whites and African Americans. Gun availability in the home was associated with weapon involvement for African Americans only. High educational aspirations were protective for African Americans and Latinos, but higher family connectedness was protective for Latinos only. Conclusions Interventions to prevent weapon-related behaviors among African American, Latino, and white adolescents may benefit from addressing emotional distress and substance use. Risk and protective factors vary by race/ethnicity after adjusting for individual, peer, family, and community characteristics. Addressing violence exposure, minimizing the influence of delinquent peers, promoting educational aspirations, and enhancing family connectedness could guide tailoring of violence prevention interventions.

Firearm carrying and concurrent substance use behaviours in a community-based sample of emerging adults

“…This is consistent with previous literature showing a link between firearm carrying and excessive alcohol use in national samples of adults10 and in studies of selected groups of adolescents 11. The literature on substance use and firearm carrying is limited, with some studies finding a positive relationship between drug use and firearm carrying in adolescents14–15 and others finding little or no relationship between drug use and general weapon carrying, including firearms 16. Few studies examined the relationship between gun carrying and specific substances; that our study included ethnically diverse emerging adults and filtered out carrying for sport also adds to the literature.…”

Mindfulness based intervention with an attentional comparison group in at risk young adolescents: a pilot randomized controlled trial

“…Risk factors for poor outcomes in adolescence include poverty, being raised by a single parent, being born to a teenage mother, living in a ‘foster’ household, parental alcoholism and being abused mentally or physically 1, 2. These risk factors are paired with lower academic achievement, incarceration, teen pregnancy, increased mental illness and violence after controlling for sex, race/ethnicity and education 3 .…”

Do Weapons Facilitate Adolescent Delinquency? An Examination of Weapon Carrying and Delinquency Among Adolescents

“…Adolescents who participate in violent or physically aggressive situations often carry weapons (DuRant, Getts, Cadenhead, & Woods, 1995; DuRant, Kahn, Beckford, & Woods, 1997; Kodjo, Auinger, & Ryan, 2003; Stickley et al, 2015; Webster, Gainer, & Champion, 1993). Weapon carrying is also associated with higher rates of property crime (Bailey, Flewelling, & Rosenbaum, 1997; Sheley & Wright, 1995; Yun & Hwang, 2011), and other risky behaviors, including substance use and sales (Black & Ricardo, 1994; Dudovitz, McCoy, & Chung, 2015; DuRant, Krowchuk, Kreiter, Sinal, & Woods, 1999; Kodjo et al, 2003; McKeganey & Norrie, 2000; Perlus et al, 2014; Shetgiri, Boots, Lin, & Cheng, 2016; Stayton, Mcveigh, Olson, Perkins, & Kerker, 2011; Vaughn et al, 2012).…”