Abstract
Purpose: To examine whether African-American inner-city adolescents are independently motivated by a fear of victimization or by delinquency to carry a knife or gun. Methods: A household sample of 130 female and 93 male African-American adolescents, aged 13-19 years old, were queried about their fear of victimization, history of delinquency, and intention to carry a knife or a gun in the next 3 months. Results: A high intention to carry a knife was reported by 27% of the males and 35% of the females. A high intention to carry a gun was reported by 25% of the males and 9% of the females. The intention to carry a knife was independently associated with a history of delinquency in females (odds ratio [OR] = 3.0; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.4-6.2) and males (OR = 4.7; 95% CI = 1.7-13.3). It was not associated with a fear of victimization. The intention to carry a gun was independently associated with fear of victimization in females (OR = 4.5; 95% CI = 1.1-17.7) and males (OR = 3.3; 95% CI = 1.1-9.9). It was also independently associated with a history of delinquency in females (OR = 4.1; 95% CI = 1.1-16.3) and males (OR = 11.7; 95% CI = 3.1-44.7). Conclusions: Delinquency may play a role in motivating inner-city African-American adolescents to carry a knife, whereas both delinquency and fear of victimization may influence adolescents' motivation to carry a gun.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 72-78 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Journal of Adolescent Health |
Volume | 34 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 2004 |
Keywords
- Adolescent health
- Delinquency
- Gender differences
- Victimization
- Violence
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Psychiatry and Mental health