CORRELATES OF GUN CARRYING AMONG ADOLESCENTS IN SOUTH LOUISIANA

In the majority of episodes of fatal interpersonal violence, the weapo n used is a firearm. Amid frequent reports of youths carrying weapons, including firearms, we conducted a case-control study to identify ris k factors for being charged with gun-carrying and gun-carrying, per se , among adolescents in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. Cases were defined as incidents of gun-carrying among adolescents < 19 years of age, leg ally charged in the Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, juvenile court from J anuary 1, 1992, through April 15, 1993. For each case, we randomly dre w three age-, gender-, and school-matched control subjects from the en rollment rosters of the Jefferson Parish public schools and administer ed a questionnaire. The data set comprised 38 case subjects and 103 ma tched control subjects. Thirty (29%) control subjects reported gun-car rying. Both case subjects and gun-carrying control subjects reported s elf-defense (40%) as the main reason for gun-carrying. Most case subje cts (25 [66%]) were African Americans, but only 8 (27%) gun-carrying a nd 27 (37%) non-gun-carrying control subjects were African Americans. Case subjects were significantly more likely than gun-carrying control subjects to report being African American (odds ratio [OR] = 5.3, 95% confidence intervals [CI] = 1.6, 17.5). In crude analyses, case subje cts were more likely than non-gun-carrying control subjects to report adult-male unemployment among households with adult men, to foresee a likelihood to be shot in school, to have seen a shooting, to use marij uana, to watch television > 6 hours per day, and to be African America n. After the effect estimates were adjusted in conditional logistic re gression modeling, case subjects were more likely than non-gun-carryin g control subjects to report adult-male unemployment among households with adult men, using marijuana, and watching television > 6 hours per day (OR = 8.6, 95% CI = 1.2, 61.2; OR = 11.7, 95% CI = 2, 70.2; and O R = 6.5, 95% CI = 0.8, 51.9, respectively). Gun-carrying control subje cts were significantly more likely than non-gun-carrying control subje cts to report their school not safe, having seen a shooting, using mar ijuana, and having fired a gun (OR = 9, 35% CI = 1, 82.1; OR = 7, 95% CI = 1.3, 38.2; OR = 6.8, 95% CI = 1.8, 25.5; and OR = 17, 95% CI = 1. 8, 156.6, respectively). We found that gun-carrying was very common, a nd that adolescent youths who carry guns were more likely to have fami liarity with guns and experience with or perception of an unsafe envir onment. Together, these lead to the conclusion that gun-carrying is a common response of youths who live in a risky environment, who do not have the social support to learn how to deal effectively with that ris k, and who have access to guns, which they think may provide them with some protection.