Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #112217

Cheryl Blalock Aspy, PhD¹, Sara K. Vesely, PhD², Roy F. Oman, PhD³, Eleni Tolma, MPH PhD⁴, Sharon Rodine, MEd⁵, LaDonna Marshall⁵, and Janene D. Fluhr, MS⁶. (1) Family & Preventive Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, 900 NE 10th St. - FMC 2209, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, 405-271-2370, Cheryl-aspy@ouhsc.edu, (2) Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, PO Box 26901, CHB, Room 309, Oklahoma City, OK 73190, (3) Department of Health Promotion Sciences, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, P.O. Box 26901, Rm. 369, Oklahoma City, OK 73190, (4) Department of Health Pormotion Sciences, Univeristy of Oklahoma, P.O.Box 26901, Oklahoma City, OK 73190, (5) HEART of OKC Project, Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy, 420 N.W. 13th St., #101, Oklahoma City, OK 73103, (6) College of Public Health, Health Promotion Sciences Department, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, P O Box 26901, CHB-369, Oklahoma City, OK 73190

Evidence has supported youth and family assets as protective from youth problem behaviors. This study was designed to identify those youth characteristics that were protective against weapon carrying in the past 30 days, which has been shown to be a precursor to violence. As part of the longitudinal Youth Asset Study, in-home, interview data from 946 youth/parent pairs, residing in a Mid-western metropolitan area were analyzed to examine the association among nine youth assets and other demographic characteristics on adolescent fighting. In the two age groups studied [Middle School (n=473), High School (n=473)], 12% admitted to carrying a weapon in the past 30 days and males (19%) were significantly more likely than females (5.6%) to have carried a weapon (p<0.001). Logistic regression models for each asset suggested that, while controlling for youth grade, gender, race, and parental income, education, and family structure, Non-parental Adult Role Models (OR=1.77), Peer Role Models (OR=2.67), Family Communication (OR=2.45), Community Involvement (OR=2.93), Aspirations for the Future (OR=2.06), and Responsible Choices (OR=2.99) were significantly related (p<.05) to no weapon carrying in the past 30 days. One interaction effect suggested that Good Health Practices (Exercise/Nutrition) was protective for youth in families with incomes less than $35,000 suggesting that youth with the asset compared to those without it whose parental income was less than $35,000 were 2.4 times more likely to report not having carried a weapon. These results suggest that strengthening adolescent assets and skills may be an effective strategy for reducing adolescent weapon carrying.

Learning Objectives: Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to
• Describe the Youth Asset Study constructs.
• Understand the relationships between youth assets and youth weapon carrying.
• Describe the potential contribution of the Youth Asset Study to prevention of youth weapon carrying.

Keywords: Adolescents, Violence Prevention

Presenting author's disclosure statement:


I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation

Examining Youth Assets and Risk Behaviors

The 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition (December 10-14, 2005) of APHA