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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Mary G. Vriniotis, MS and Deborah Azrael, PhD. Harvard Injury Control Research Center, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Ave., 3rd Fl., Boston, MA 02115, (617)432-4892, mvriniot@hsph.harvard.edu

Purpose: Youth violence continues to pose a serious threat to safe schools and communities across the U.S.: one-third of high school students reporting being in at least one physical fight in 2003. The percent of students in Boston missing school because of safety concerns was above the national average. Identifying factors that may be associated with youth violence perpetration is essential for developing appropriate interventions.

Methods: Using data from the 2004 Boston Youth Survey, a random sample of 1079 adolescents living in impoverished neighborhoods in Boston, we examined correlates of threatening to hit or hurt someone and actually hitting or trying to hurt someone.

Results: Multivariate analyses controlling for age, sex, race, parents' marital status, being born in the U.S., racial discrimination, feelings of safety, and exposure to violence indicated that threatening others was associated with: actual perpetration (OR=11.32), younger age (OR=1.46), being born in the U.S. (OR=1.72), having a yelling argument at school (OR=1.63), low confidence in ability to avoid fights (OR=2.24), and witnessing violence (OR=2.74). It was not associated with direct personal victimization. Actual perpetration was associated with: threatening others (OR=11.65), older age (OR=1.74), yelling argument at school (OR=1.62), lack of participation in after-school activities (OR=1.93), low confidence in ability to avoid fights (OR=1.72), high gun accessibility (OR=1.62), gun carrying (OR=2.33) and direct personal victimization (OR=2.07). It was not associated with witnessing violence.

Conclusions: Our findings support previous research linking victimization and perpetration and indicate that the type of violence exposure may affect the type of perpetration.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify correlates of threatening to hurt others
• Identify correlates of actual violence perpetration
• Discuss strategies for intervention based on potential risk and protective factors

Keywords: Violence Prevention, Youth Violence

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered