Parent Aggression, Youth Aggression, and Environmental Risk as Predictors of Perceived Youth Access to Firearms

• In Event: Poster Session 2

Abstract

Gun violence in the United States is a serious issue, with youth involvement influenced by environmental, peer, family, and individual risk factors (Oliphant et al., 2019). One underexplored risk is gun access. Perceived gun access significantly relates to future gun carrying, even when including other risk factors (Keil et al., 2020). This study examines predictors of self-perceived gun access in a four wave longitudinal study with adolescents from 10th grade to one year post-high school and their parents in an urban mid-sized northeastern school district (Wave 1: N = 200; 91.5% nonwhite; 56.5% female). In Wave 1, the interaction between parent aggression and youth reports of neighborhood violence predicts perceived gun availability post-high school (p < 0.05). Similarly, the interaction between initial parent aggression and youth approval of weapons significantly predicts perceived access to guns in Wave 4 (p < 0.05). Youth aggression in Waves 1 to 3 also relates to later perceived gun access (r = 0.27–0.31), as does serious violent youth aggression in Waves 2 and 3 (r = 0.30; 0.31). This study will explore these relations further, investigating learned aggression and environmental risk as joint influences on youth perception of ease of access to firearms.

Authors

• Kaylise Algrim, Rutgers University - Newark

• Paul Boxer, Rutgers University - Newark