Risk and Protective Factors Associated with Youth Firearm Access, Possession or Carrying
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Risk and Protective Factors Associated with Youth Firearm Access, Possession or Carrying Sabrina Arredondo Mattson 1
& Eric
Sigel 2 & Melissa C. Mercado 3
Received: 29 October 2019 / Accepted: 5 February 2020/ # Southern Criminal Justice Association 2020
Abstract Firearm homicide and suicide are the leading causes of violence-related injury deaths among U.S. youth. However, evaluations of the effectiveness of firearm violence prevention programs and strategies to reducing youth firearm violence are limited. To help inform and evaluate such efforts, this study aimed to identify risk and protective factors associated with youth firearm access, possession or carrying (for reasons other than hunting or target shooting) among a sample of U.S. urban youth in the Mountain West. Findings show the influence that youth violence risk (e.g., having friends engaged in delinquency; violence; drug sales; gang fights; exposure to violence; screening positive for violence risk) can have on youth firearm access, possession or carrying. Implications for prevention and intervention are discussed. Keywords Gun . Firearm . Youth . Adolescents . Violence . Delinquency
Background In 2017, firearms were used in 87% of all homicides and 41% of all suicides among United States (U.S.) youth aged 10–17 (CDC, 2019). In fact, firearm homicides and
* Sabrina Arredondo Mattson [email protected] Eric Sigel [email protected] Melissa C. Mercado [email protected]
1
University of Colorado Boulder, Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, 1440 15th, Street, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
2
University of Colorado School of Medicine, 13123 E 16th Ave, B-025, Aurora, CO 80045, USA
3
Division of Violence Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy, NE, MS F-63, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA
American Journal of Criminal Justice
suicides are the two leading causes of violence-related injury deaths among U.S. youth (CDC, 2019). Furthermore, a recent cross-national study of high-income countries found that 92% of all firearm-related deaths of 5–14 year olds occurred in the U.S., and that the firearm homicide rate among 15–24 year olds in the U.S. was 31.1 times higher than the rate for other high-income countries (9.4 vs. 0.3 per 100,000) (Grinshteyn & Hemenway, 2019). Beyond the loss of life, the most recently available data shows that, in 2017 alone, violence-related youth firearm homicides and suicides resulted in an estimated $3.1 billion in combined lifetime medical and work loss costs (CDC, 2019). Over the past 30 years, research has sought to understand the prevalence of firearm carrying among U.S. youth, including their reasons for having a firearm and how they access them (for reasons other than hunting or target practice). In 2017, 4.8% of all U.S. high school students (7.7% male v. 1.9% female) reported carrying a gun at least one day during the past 12 months for reasons other than hunting or for a sport (Kann, McManus, Harris, et al
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