Guns in young hands: a survey of urban teenagers' attitudes and behaviors related to handgun violence.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the nature and causes of gun violence among urban young people.


METHODS
We conducted a confidential survey of 1,219 7th and 10th graders in Boston and Milwaukee, regarding their attitudes and behaviors toward violence and handguns.


RESULTS
Twenty-nine percent have had a member of their immediate family shot, 42% could get a gun if they wanted, 28% have handled a gun without adult knowledge or supervision, 17% have carried a concealed gun, and 3% reported bringing a gun to school in the past 30 days. Nine percent admitted smoking cigarettes in the past week, 11% admitted smoking marijuana. Twenty-five percent were attacked or threatened within the past year. Reasons for gun carrying were mostly related to perceived safety/threats/revenge (73%), followed by casual handling (17%), hunting (4%), being cool (3%), target practice (2%), and gangs (1%). The following factors were significantly correlated with gun handling by chi 2 analysis, at p < 0.001 (percentage of respondents admitting unsupervised gun handling shown in parentheses): male (39%) versus female (19%); 10th graders (35%) versus 7th graders (24%) seat-belt nonusers (35%) versus users (20%); students who state they have poor grades (39%) versus good grades (26%); cigarette smokers (61%) versus nonsmokers (25%); have a gun in the home (46%) versus no gun in the home (23%). Also strongly correlated in multivariate analysis were violence exposure, having been arrested, and beliefs that "gun carrying is a good idea," or that "only cowards back down from a fight."


CONCLUSIONS
Handgun availability and use are high among urban youth; gun carrying is mostly related to safety concerns and easy access, rather than to hunting or sport. This may be a cause of high handgun injury rates in this group. Gun injury prevention programs must address youth safety concerns along with handgun availability.
Bergstein
J M
JM
Department of Surgery, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee 53226, USA.
Hemenway
D
D
Kennedy
B
B
Quaday
S
S
Ander
R
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology; D001900:Boston; D003625:Data Collection; D003710:Demography; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005389:Firearms; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D002189:Marijuana Abuse / Q000453:epidemiology; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012307:Risk Factors; D012622:Seat Belts / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D012945:Social Values; D014505:Urban Population; D014754:Violence; D014922:Wisconsin