 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
|
| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Susan B. Sorenson, PhD, School of Public Health, Community Health Sciences Dept, University of California Los Angeles, Box 951772, Violence Prevention Research Group, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772, (310) 825-8749, sorenson@ucla.edu
Purpose. To assess whether adolescents provide reliable information about whether a firearm is in the home.
Methods. Data come from the California Health Interview Survey, a random-digit-dial survey of 55,428 households. Adolescents and adults were asked whether there is a firearm (any gun, a handgun) in the home. Sample, person, and population weights were applied to the data. Agreement between the 5801 adolescent-adult pairs was assessed using crosstabulations and kappa statistics.
Results. The proportion of adolescents and adults from the same households who report that there is a firearm in the home was comparable (19.6% and 18.7%, respectively). The proportion of each reporting that there is a handgun in the home also is similar (9.9% and 11.4%, respectively). Women and girls are less likely than men and boys to report that there is a gun in the home. Adolescent-adult agreement differs by gender and household composition.
Conclusions. Age, gender, and household composition are related to knowledge about firearms in the home. Future research would benefit from taking these variables into consideration when assessing self-reports of household firearms.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Adolescents, Firearms
Related Web page: N/A
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None.
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.