High school students' attitudes about firearms policies.
OBJECTIVE
To examine high school students' attitudes about firearm policies and to compare their attitudes with those of adults.


METHODS
The Hamilton Youth and Guns Poll is the first national survey of high school students about their attitudes concerning firearm policies. Questions were asked of 1005 sophomores, juniors, and seniors about their actual (i.e., direct) exposure (e.g., presence of a gun in the home) and about their social (i.e., indirect) exposure (e.g., whether the student could get a gun) to firearms and related violence. Population weights were applied, and multivariate logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between demographic and exposure variables and opinions about firearm policies.


RESULTS
Most high school students supported more restrictive firearm policies. Opinions varied little by demographic variables with the exception of gender. Females were significantly more supportive of most firearm policies. Actual exposure was a more consistent predictor than social exposure. Students living in a home with a gun, particularly a handgun, were less likely to support most restrictive gun policies.


CONCLUSIONS
Most high school students in the United States favor stringent policies governing firearms. Adolescents' attitudes about firearm policies parallel those of adults.
Vittes
Katherine A
KA
School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095-1772, USA. kavittes@ucla.edu
Sorenson
Susan B
SB
Gilbert
Dennis
D
D000293:Adolescent; D001290:Attitude; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D005389:Firearms / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D011640:Public Policy