Am. Arria et al., PREVALENCE OF CARRYING A WEAPON AND RELATED BEHAVIORS IN URBAN SCHOOLCHILDREN, 1989 TO 1993, Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine, 149(12), 1995, pp. 1345-1350
Objective: To characterize the prevalence of weapon carrying in an epi
demiologic sample of about 1500 urban schoolchildren between spring 19
89 and spring 1993. Design: A descriptive analysis based on 5 years of
cross-sectional confidential survey data. Setting: An urban public sc
hool system in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Participa
nts: The study base included all children who were interviewed in each
year from 1989 to 1993, disregarding the number of prior or subsequen
t interviews. The mean age of the participants in the sample was 9 yea
rs when the survey began. Main Outcome Measures: Carrying a nonlethal
or lethal weapon (eg, a stick, knife, or gun) to defend or to threaten
or hurt someone, assessed by self-report. Reports of interpersonal ag
gression also were obtained. Results: Knife and gun carrying increased
with age while stick carrying decreased. In 1989, carrying a lethal w
eapon (eg, knife or gun) was reported by 11.7% of boys and 3.3% of gir
ls; in 1993, these proportions had increased to 22.2% and 15.3%, respe
ctively. Gun carrying increased over time; by 1993, 9.9% of boys and 1
.4% of girls reported that they had carried a gun in the previous year
. Carrying a weapon to defend or protect oneself was more commonly rep
orted than to hurt or threaten someone. Various types of interpersonal
aggression were frequently reported among boys and girls in each year
. Our findings support the hypothesis that early involvement with a we
apon is associated with later more serious involvement with a weapon.
Conclusions: Involvement in weapons-related behavior starts young, wel
l before the middle school years. Effective intervention programs may
require attention to the early determinants of involvement with weapon
s, sex differences, and perhaps also the changing profile of reasons g
iven for carrying and using weapons in conjunction with other forms of
aggressive behaviors.