Citation

Ding CS, Nelsen EA, Lassonde CT. Youth Soc. 2002; 34(2): 195-213.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/004411802237863

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study examined adolescents' aggressiveness in relation to their experiences, beliefs, and attitudes concerning gun use. It also investigated family composition, relationships with parents, and emotionality as correlates of gun involvement and aggressiveness. A self-report questionnaire was given to 334 students, 167 females and 167 males, in a junior high school in upstate New York. Correlation coefficients and regression analyses revealed that males who had more experience with guns reported reacting more violently to frustration and also admitted to having participated in greater numbers of violent incidents. Girls who indicated that they were alienated from and dissatisfied with their mothers felt generally more upset and unhappy, reacted angrily to frustration, and more often expressed aggression toward persons and objects. Both boys and girls whose families owned and used guns tended to believe that gun use had innocuous effects.