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Abstract #158511

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Mary G. Vriniotis, MS¹, Renee M. Johnson, PhD, MPH², Matthew Miller, MD, ScD², and Deborah Azrael, PhD¹. (1) Harvard Youth Violence Prevention Center, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Ave., 3rd Fl., Boston, MA 02115, (617)432-0085, mvriniot@hsph.harvard.edu, (2) Harvard Injury Control Research Center, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Ave, Room 306, Boston, MA 02115

Purpose Overestimation of peer alcohol consumption has been found to be associated with increased alcohol consumption among youth. Because youth may also overestimate peer firearm carrying, we examined whether beliefs about peer gun carrying were associated with increased risk for gun carrying among youth. Methods Data come from the 2006 Boston Youth Survey, a random sample of students in Boston public high schools. We used logistic regression to assess whether beliefs about peer gun carrying were associated with self-reported gun carrying. Models controlled for demographic variables as well as for other factors potentially associated with gun carrying, such as students' exposure to violence. Results About 1 in 20 respondents (5.6%) respondents (n=857), and one out of 10 boys reported having carried a gun in the past year (compared to 3% of girls). In contrast, respondents believed that, on average, 28% of their classmates were carrying guns. Those who believed that over 30% of their schoolmates carried a gun were more than twice as likely (multivariate OR 3.7, 95% C.I. 1.9-7.2) to carry a gun than those who believed that fewer of their classmates were armed. Conclusions High school students substantially overestimate the proportion of their classmates who carry guns, and this misperception is associated with increased gun carrying. Resetting students' perceptions, for example through a media campaign, may be an important strategy for reducing gun carrying among those whose behavior is influenced either by fear of encountering armed classmates or peer pressure.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize a disparity between actual and perceived gun carrying among adolescents
• Identify the strength of this association in the presence of other moderating factors (such as demographics, gun access, and violence exposure)
• Discuss the importance of developing interventions that would realign misperceptions of peer gun carrying with actual gun carrying.

Keywords: Adolescents, Firearms

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

• Audio (mp3) recording
• Slides (pdf) or Handout
• Multimedia recording