Citation

Erickson PG, Butters JE, Cousineau MM, Harrison L, Korf D. J. Urban Health 2006; 83(5): 788-801.

Affiliation

Social, Prevention and Policy Research Department, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, T-418, 33 Russell Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 2S1, pat_erickson@camh.net.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s11524-006-9038-5

PMID

16937086

PMCID

PMC2438581

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe delinquent girls' weapons preferences where and how often they carried weapons and to identify the most important factors that explained four different weapon-related violent outcomes. A large, high-risk sample of female adolescents consisting of 510 girls aged 14-17 in four cities were interviewed using the same questionnaire and methods. Tabular and logistic regression analyses were applied. Knives emerged as the most frequently reported weapon in all cities. Rates of both lifetime victimization and perpetration of violence with weapons were high in all sites. Starting to carry a weapon as a result of violence was reported by 40% of the girls in Toronto, 28% in Philadelphia, 25% in Amsterdam, and 16% in Montreal. The major predictors of weapon perpetrated violent behaviours included ethnic origin, early onset of delinquent activities, participation in delinquent acts in the past 12 months, gang fighting and carrying a weapon as a result of violence. Site, age and heavy alcohol consumption had a minor impact, and drug use, drug selling, and neighborhood features, none. Despite numerous differences in weapons' prevalence across cities, the logistic regression found that site was only significant in use of an object (Toronto) and not significant in threatening or hurting someone with either a knife or a gun or actually hurting others with a weapon. These findings suggest commonality in serious female violence that extends beyond borders and cultures.

Language: en