Weapon Carrying, Physical Fighting and Gang Membership among Adolescents in Washington State Military Families

Background: In 2010, 1.98 million United States children had at least one parent serving in the military. Youth access to weapons and adolescent interpersonal violence are positively associated with high-risk behaviors and victimization; however, no studies have examined these relationships in military families.

Methods: We used cross-sectional data from the 2008 Washington State Healthy Youth Survey collected in 8th, 10th, and 12th grades of public schools (n=10,606). Parental military service was categorized as none (reference group), without combat zone deployment, or deployed to a combat zone. Multivariable logistic regression was used to test associations between parental military service and adolescent outcomes including school-based physical fighting and weapon carrying, and gang membership. Standard errors were adjusted for the complex survey design.

Results: In 8th grade, parental deployment was associated with higher odds of reporting weapon carrying (OR=2.2) in girls, and higher odds of physical fighting (OR=1.8), and gang membership (OR=2.1) in boys. In 10th/12th grade, parental deployment was associated with higher odds of reporting physical fighting (OR=2.6), carrying a weapon (OR=2.2), and gang membership (OR=2.8) among girls, and physical fighting (OR=2.5), carrying a weapon (OR=2.9), and gang membership (OR=2.1) among boys.

Conclusion: Parental military deployment is associated with increased odds of adolescents engaging in school-based physical fighting, carrying a weapon, and gang membership, particularly among older youth. Military, school, and public health professionals have a unique opportunity to develop school- and community-based interventions to improve the health and safety of youth in military families.