Perceived popularity of adolescents who use weapons in violence and adolescents who only carry weapons

Citation

Wallace, Lacey N. (2017). Perceived popularity of adolescents who use weapons in violence and adolescents who only carry weapons. Journal of Youth Studies. vol. 20 (10) pp. 1295-1312

Abstract

Prior research has found that persistently delinquent youth or more violent youth were less popular than their less delinquent peers (Young, 2013). However, recent research has also found that weapon carrying is associated with being more popular in adolescence (Dijkstra et al., 2010). The present paper examines the perceived popularity of adolescents who carry weapons in comparison to those who both carry and use weapons in acts of violence or threatened violence. Data consist of two waves from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Analyses use OLS regression with lagged predictors. This paper found no differences in number of friends between weapon carriers and weapon users. However, among both male and female gang members, those who did not use or carry weapons (abstainers) named significantly fewer friends than weapon users. Among females, weapon abstainers both named and were named by significantly more people than weapon users. These differences were not observed for males. Implications of these results and directions for future research are discussed.

URL

https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2017.1324135

Keyword(s)

adolescence gangs popularity weapon carrying

Reference Type

Journal Article

Journal Title

Journal of Youth Studies

Author(s)

Wallace, Lacey N.

Year Published

2017

Volume Number

Issue Number

Pages

1295-1312

Edition

May 3, 2017

ISSN/ISBN

1367-6261 (Print) 1367-6261

DOI

10.1080/13676261.2017.1324135

NIHMSID

NIHMS880647

Reference ID

8229