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Citation
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Wiebe DJ, Richmond TS, Guo W, Allison PD, Hollander JE, Nance ML, Branas CC. Epidemiology 2015; 27(1): 32-41. |
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Affiliation
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1 Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. 2 Department of Biobehavioral and Health Sciences, School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania. 3 Department of Sociology, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania. 4 Department of Emergency Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. 5 Department of Surgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. 6 Department of Surgery, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. |
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Abstract
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BACKGROUND: We collected detailed activity paths of urban youth to investigate the dynamic interplay between their lived experiences,time spent in different environments,and risk of violent assault.
METHODS: We mapped activity pathsof10-24 year-olds, including 143 assault patients shot with a firearm, 206 assault patients injured with other types of weapons, and 283 community controls, creating a step-by-step mapped record of how, when, where, and with whom they spent time over a full day from waking up until going to bed or being assaulted. Case-control analyses compared cases to time-matched controls to identify risk factors for assault. Case-crossover analyses compared cases at the time of assault to themselves earlier in the day to investigate whether exposure increases acted to the trigger assault.
RESULTS: Gunshot assault risks included being alone (OR=1.6, 95%CI=1.3-1.9) and were lower in areas with high neighbor connectedness (OR=0.7, 95%CI=0.6-0.8). Acquiring a gun (OR=1.4, 95%CI=1.1-1.6) and entering areas with more vacancy, violence and vandalism (OR=1.7, 95%CI=1.1-2.7) appeared to trigger the risk of getting shot shortly thereafter. Non-gunshot assault risks included being in areas with recreation centers (OR=1.2, 95%CI=1.1-1.4). Entering an area with higher truancy (OR=1.6, 95%CI=1.1-2.5) and more vacancy, violence and vandalism appeared to trigger the risk of non-gunshot assault. Risks varied by age group.
CONCLUSIONS: We achieved a large scale study of the activities of many boys, adolescents, and young men that systematically documented their experiences and empirically quantified risks for violence. Working at a temporal and spatial scale that is relevant to the dynamics of this phenomenon gave novel insights into triggers for violent assault.
Language: en |