A PROFILE OF RURAL TEXAS ADOLESCENTS WHO CARRY HANDGUNS TO SCHOOL

Students in randomly selected eight and 10th grade English classrooms (n = 1,072) in central Texas schools were surveyed in fall 1994 regard ing carrying weapons to school and associated risk factors. Students w ho carried a handgun to school one or more times during the preceding 12 months were compared to those who had not done so, using discrimina nt analysis and chi-square. Gun carrying at school increased 138% from seven years earlier in the same area using the same survey procedures . Most students reported they carried a gun out of fear or anger. Thos e who carried a gun at school had extremely elevated rates of repeated victimization of several types during the previous year. 589% higher for attack at school, 552% higher for attack outside school supervisio n, 576% higher for attempts to force sex at school, 216% higher for ra pe. They also were more likely to enter dangerous situations repeatedl y, were 17 times more likely to have used crack cocaine, had less inst ruction on preventing violence, less knowledge about means of avoiding fighting, and felt an obligation to fight under a wider variety of si tuations. Study variables accurately classified 78.4% of gun carriers as such. Researchers concluded that efforts at prevention of handgun v iolence in schools should include interventions to increase the safety of a select group of vulnerable students =, while providing psycholog ical counseling to assist them in overcoming emotional effects of vict imization as part of larger violence prevention efforts.