The intention of adolescents to carry a knife or a gun: a study of low-income African-American adolescents

Abstract

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.