NCJ Number
216481
Journal
Justice Quarterly Volume: 23 Issue: 4 Dated: December 2006 Pages: 502-529
Date Published
December 2006
Length
28 pages
Annotation
Using longitudinal data from nearly 4,000 students in 113 schools in Kentucky, this study determined the chronology of the link between student weapon carrying and various objective and subjective experiences of school crime.
Abstract
The study found that fear of personal victimization at school was unrelated to both gun and nongun weapon carrying. Also, individual perception of the risk of victimization at school had relatively weak effects on gun/weapon carrying, and effects were in the opposite direction of the predictions of the fear and victimization hypothesis for explaining student gun carrying. The strongest predictors of gun/weapon carrying were previous weapon carrying and gun ownership. This suggests that access to weapons and the habit/opportunity of carrying them must be addressed if student weapon carrying is to be reduced. Data for this study were collected as part of the Rural Substance Abuse and Violence Project, a longitudinal study that examined individual and contextual factors that influence substance use, victimization, and offending among middle and high-school students in Kentucky. Data were first collected in the spring of 2001, when participating students were in the seventh grade. The same students were again surveyed in spring 2002 as 8th graders, spring 2003 as 9th graders, and spring 2004 as 10th graders. The analysis focused on the first three waves of data. Gun carrying was measured by how often respondents had taken a gun to school during that school year. Students were also asked about carrying other types of weapons. Also measured were fear of school crime, perceived risk of school victimization, and school-crime victimization. 3 tables, 76 variables, and appended intercorrelations among study variables