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Neighborhood Predictors of Concealed Firearm Carrying Among Children and Adolescents
Results From the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods
Beth E. Molnar, ScD;
Matthew J. Miller, MD, MPH, ScD;
Deborah Azrael, PhD;
Stephen L. Buka, ScD
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2004;158:657-664.
Background Previous studies of concealed firearm carrying among children and adolescents have focused on individual risk factors.
Objective To identify features of neighborhoods associated with concealed firearm carrying among a representative sample of youth from Chicago, Ill.
Design Cross-sectional analysis of individual- and neighborhood-level data collected by the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods.
Setting Families and neighborhoods in Chicago.
Participants Population-based sample of 1842 multiethnic youth aged 9 to 19 years and the 218 neighborhoods in which they resided.
Main Outcome Measure Whether youth had ever carried a concealed firearm.
Results Lifetime estimates for concealed firearm carrying were 4.9% for males and 1.1% for females. We found that youth in safer and less disordered neighborhoods were less likely than youth in unsafe and more disordered neighborhoods to carry concealed firearms. Specifically, multilevel nonlinear regression models identified a positive association between concealed firearm carrying and (1) community members' ratings of neighborhoods as unsafe for children; (2) neighborhood social disorder; and (3) neighborhood physical disorder. Neighborhood collective efficacy was negatively associated with concealed firearm carrying. Models controlled for neighborhood economic indicators and individual and family factors associated with the carrying of concealed firearms by youth.
Conclusions Youth are less likely to carry concealed firearms in areas where there is less violence and increased safety. Interventions to improve neighborhood conditions such as increasing safety, improving collective efficacy, and reducing social and physical disorder may be efficacious in preventing firearm use and its associated injuries and death among youth.
From the Department of Society, Human Development, and Health (Drs Molnar and Buka), Department of Health Policy and Management (Drs Miller and Azrael), and Harvard Injury Control Research Center, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Mass.
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