Weapons at school: Are the predictors generalizable across context?

This study addresses the reasons for school-based weapon carrying across th ree diverse county-level contexts. Weapon carrying among students at school has been, until very recently, neglected in research. Further, much of the information that is available is non-comparative. Hence, whether the etiol ogy of in-school weapon carrying is generalizable across diverse settings r emains largely an unanswered question. The present study moves toward a tes t of generalizability by comparing student weapon possession and its antece dents in three geographically, economically, and culturally distinct commun ities in Kentucky. Findings suggest that few differences exist across conte xt regarding the etiology of school-based weapon carrying. Regardless of co mmunity context, peer weapon carrying as well as criminal lifestyle are imp ortant predictors of adolescents' carrying weapons to school.