Suchergebnisse

Youth interpersonal firearm violence disproportionately affects Black youth, with residential racial segregation as a key determinant. Racially segregated neighborhoods, which are economically isolated (e.g., neighborhood disadvantage), are linked to increased exposure to violence. This exposure, in turn, is a determinant of youth firearm aggression (i.e., using a gun on someone else). Mechanisms from residential racial segregation to firearm aggression, however, have not been evaluated. Therefore, we tested neighborhood disadvantage and exposure to violence as mediators in the association between residential racial segregation and youth firearm aggression. Participants were 338 Black youth who had used drugs in the past 6 months and sought care in an urban emergency department. Using serial mediation analysis, residential racial segregation was indirectly associated with youth firearm aggression via neighborhood disadvantage and then exposure to violence. While researchers have documented the association between structural racism and firearm violence injury and incidents, our study assessed multiple socioecological mechanisms simultaneously. Identifying the downstream socioecological consequences of residential segregation can guide the development of firearm aggression prevention programs addressing the consequences of racism.

Firearm injuries are a leading cause of injury-related deaths in the U.S., but there is a dearth of federal funding for research on firearm injury prevention, compared to funding for research on other injuries and diseases. University research centers/institutes (C/Is) are in a position to help generate such research: they are multidisciplinary, have the capacity to conduct large-scale research projects, and commonly address complex health and social problems. In this article, we trace the history of research on firearm injury prevention, describe the different kinds of C/Is and C/I networks that have been developed to build knowledge in other areas of critical social concern, and argue for the development of a national coordinated network of firearm injury prevention C/Is.

Firearm suicides among adolescents have increased in the US and rates vary across racial and ethnic groups. In this study, we examined contextual information around adolescent firearm suicides and analyzed how incident characteristics vary across racial and ethnic groups. We analyzed firearm suicides among adolescents (ages 10–18 years) from 2004 to 2020 using data from the National Fatality Review-Case Reporting System (NFR-CRS). There were 4,153 firearm suicides during that period. Suicides often involved males, older adolescents (15–18 years), and handguns. Most firearms belonged to the primary caregiver and incidents frequently occurred at home. However, we found that characteristics varied substantially across racial and ethnic groups. Overall, we provide new information on firearm suicides among adolescents in the US using a larger dataset than previous studies and found significant differences in characteristics and demographics across racial and ethnic groups. This finding suggests the need for tailored prevention strategies.