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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Kathryn R. Martin, MPH, Sheila S. Olivares, MPH, and Isabelle Sternfeld, MSPH. Department of Health Services, Los Angeles County, 3530 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 800, Los Angeles, CA 90010, 2133517888, kmartin@ladhs.org

Purpose: To evaluate how dating violence and a history of forced sex are related to weapon carrying among adolescents.

Methods: Data used are from the 2003 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS). Logistic regression analyses accounted for the multi-stage sampling design, and are used to evaluate the association between weapon carrying and dating violence/forced sex, while controlling for confounding factors. Factor analysis is used to group potential confounders into scales to allow for more efficient control of confounding. Analyses include the entire sample, and are also stratified by sex.

Results: After adjusting for confounding, dating violence and history of forced sex are significantly related to weapon carrying off and on school property, as well as weapon carrying only at school. While each factor is separately associated with weapon carrying, the combination of both dating violence and a history of forced sex results in greater odds of weapon carrying than either of the factors alone.

Conclusions: This research shows that there is a strong relationship between weapon carrying and dating violence. Since both of these behaviors are prevalent among American high school students, the results from this study can be useful in designing prevention strategies. Programs that successfully reduce dating violence among teens may reduce weapon carrying, creating safer communities and schools.

Learning Objectives: At the end of the session, participants will be able to

• Describe the prevalence of dating violence, forced sex and weapon carrying among US adolescents.
• Analyze the relationship between dating violence/forced sex and weapon carrying.
• Discuss the implications of this research for preventing dating violence, sexual assault and weapon carrying.
• Recognize the need for further research to better understand how dating violence, in addition to other types of violent victimization and perpetration, are related to weapon carrying.

Keywords: Adolescent Health, Violence

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered