TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2004//
TI  - The intention of adolescents to carry a knife or a gun: a study of low-income African-American adolescents
JO  - Journal of Adolescent Health
A1  - Lane, Margo A.
A1  - Cunningham, Shayna D.
A1  - Ellen, Jonathan M.
SP  - 72
EP  - 78
VL  - 34
IS  - 1
N2  - PURPOSE: To examine whether African-American inner-city adolescents are independently motivated by a fear of victimization or by delinquency to carry a knife or gun. METHODS: A household sample of 130 female and 93 male African-American adolescents, aged 13-19 years old, were queried about their fear of victimization, history of delinquency, and intention to carry a knife or a gun in the next 3 months. RESULTS: A high intention to carry a knife was reported by 27% of the males and 35% of the females. A high intention to carry a gun was reported by 25% of the males and 9% of the females. The intention to carry a knife was independently associated with a history of delinquency in females (odds ratio [OR] = 3.0; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.4-6.2) and males (OR = 4.7; 95% CI = 1.7-13.3). It was not associated with a fear of victimization. The intention to carry a gun was independently associated with fear of victimization in females (OR = 4.5; 95% CI = 1.1-17.7) and males (OR = 3.3; 95% CI = 1.1-9.9). It was also independently associated with a history of delinquency in females (OR = 4.1; 95% CI = 1.1-16.3) and males (OR = 11.7; 95% CI = 3.1-44.7). CONCLUSIONS: Delinquency may play a role in motivating inner-city African-American adolescents to carry a knife, whereas both delinquency and fear of victimization may influence adolescents' motivation to carry a gun.
LA  - 
SN  - 1054-139X
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -