Adolescent Bullying and Weapon Carrying: A Longitudinal Investigation

Bullying Victimization and Youth's Likelihood of Carrying a Handgun

Recent research suggests that bullying victimization increases the risk of handgun carrying among adolescents. Yet, little to no research has considered whether different types of bullying victimization (i.e., physical, verbal, cyber) shape handgun-carrying behaviors among youth. Understanding these relationships can, however, inform intervention efforts addressing youths' access to and motives for carrying handguns. The purposes of this study are twofold. First, we establish whether there is a relationship between bullying victimization and youth handgun carrying. Second, we seek to determine whether certain types of bullying victimization are associated more strongly with handgun carrying than others, using data from the 2022 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey (FYSAS, n = 47,572), a statewide representative sample of Florida middle school and high school students. The results from multinomial regression models indicate that physical bullying and cyberbullying victimization were associated with an elevated risk of carrying a handgun in the past 12 months. Interventions that underscore the importance of comprehensive anti-bullying interventions that not only address traditional physical aggression among adolescents but also mitigate the evolving challenges posed by unsupervised digital spaces may reduce the risk of handgun carrying.

Examining the Relation Between Early Violence Exposure and Firearm-Related Experiences in Emerging Adulthood: A Longitudinal Cohort Study

Firearms are a leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults in the United States. Early exposure to violence, as a victim or witness, is associated with increased risk of firearm-related experiences, including carrying and threatening others with a gun. These experiences, in turn, increase the risk of both fatal and non-fatal firearm injuries. Using an ethnically diverse sample of emerging adults, we build on prior research by examining the link between early violence exposure at multiple contexts of the social-ecological model and multiple firearm-related experiences (i.e., firearm-threatening victimization, firearm-threatening perpetration, and firearm carriage). We analyzed data from a 10-year longitudinal study of 1042 youth in the Southern United States. Experiencing childhood physical abuse was associated with both firearm-threatening victimization and perpetration in emerging adulthood. Additionally, exposure to neighborhood and interparental violence were linked to threatening others with firearms and carrying firearms, respectively. Counter to expectations, bullying victimization did not emerge as a predictor of any firearm-related experiences. Findings highlight the importance of cross-cutting violence prevention efforts to prevent high-risk firearm-related behaviors among emerging adults. Programs for children and adolescents that address these types of violence exposure should highlight coping skills and sources of positive social support to bolster protective factors against firearm-related outcomes.

Association between adolescents who are victims of bullying and weapon possession

OBJECTIVE

To verify the association between victims of bullying and weapon possession among school adolescents.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was carried out with 2,296 high school students aged 14-19 years. An instrument containing questions from the validated Youth Risk Behavior Survey questionnaire and the National School Health Survey was used. To describe the profile of interviewees, absolute and relative frequencies were calculated, and the chi-square test was applied to verify the existence of associations. To test the association of bullying with weapon possession, Poisson logistic regression (univariate and multivariate) was used. The significance level used for all analyses was 5%.

RESULTS

Among adolescents interviewed, 23.1% reported being victims of bullying. Among victims of bullying, 37.6% (PR = 1.68; 95% CI = 1.30 - 2.17) reported having already carried some type of weapon (knife, revolver, or truncheon) in the last 30 days, while the reported firearm possession was 38% (PR = 1.67; 95% CI = 1.16 - 2.40) and 47.5% of these adolescents carried some type of weapon (knife, revolver or truncheon) in the school environment (PR = 2.10; 95% CI = 1.50 - 2.93).

CONCLUSIONS

It could be observed that adolescents who are victims of bullying are twice as likely of carrying some type of weapon (knife, revolver, or truncheon) to the school environment, and are also more likely of carrying a firearm.

Adolescent Cyberbullying and Weapon Carrying: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Associations

This study examines the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between weapon carrying and cyberbullying (i.e., perpetration, victimization, and perpetration/victimization) and explore the relationship directions. Four waves of data were used from an ongoing longitudinal study. Participants were 1,042 adolescents, including 55.9 percent female, 31.7 percent Hispanic, 30.3 percent white, 26.6 percent African American, and 11.4 percent other, with a mean age of 15.1 years at baseline. Logistic regressions identified cross-sectional associations between weapon carrying and cyberbullying perpetration and victimization, but not for perpetration/victimization. Compared with their noninvolved counterparts, cyberbullying perpetrator were 1.97 times more likely to carry a weapon 1 year later and cyberbullying perpetrator/victims were 2.65 times more likely to carry a weapon one year later. Youth who had carried a weapon were 1.97 times more likely to be cyberbullying victims 1 year later and 1.70 times more likely to be a victim 2 years later, compared with their nonweapon-carrying counterparts. The findings highlight the importance of intervention programs targeting both cyberbullying perpetration and weapon carriage.