Adolescent Exposure To Deadly Gun Violence Within 500 Meters Of Home Or School: Ethnoracial And Income Disparities

Abstract

To identify the prevalence of and disparities in past-year exposure to deadly gun violence near adolescents' homes and schools, we linked national data on deadly gun violence incidents from the Gun Violence Archive to the age-fifteen wave of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a cohort of children born during 1998-2000 in large US cities. We found that 21 percent of adolescents in this cohort resided or attended school within 500 meters of a prior-year deadly gun violence incident during 2014-17. Rates of exposure were higher for Black and Hispanic adolescents than for White adolescents and higher for poor and near-poor adolescents than middle-to-high-income adolescents. Middle-to-high-income Black and Hispanic adolescents were more likely to be exposed to violence near home or school than poorer White adolescents. Because exposure to violence is detrimental to health, policies that reduce gun violence could improve population health disparities.

EXHIBIT 2. Ethnoracial disparities in adolescents’ annual exposure to deadly gun violence within 500 meters of home or school, 2014–17

SOURCE Authors’ analysis of data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, 2014–17, using data from the Gun Violence Archive to determine locations of deadly gun violence. NOTE The bar for any exposure indicates exposure near home or school; the bar for both exposures indicates exposure near both home and school.

EXHIBIT 3. Income disparities in adolescents’ annual exposure to deadly gun violence within 500 meters of home or school, 2014–17

SOURCE Authors’ analysis of data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, 2014–17, using data from the Gun Violence Archive to determine locations of deadly gun violence. NOTES Income groups are defined in the notes to exhibit 1. The bar for any exposure indicates exposure near home or school; the bar for both exposures indicates exposure near both home and school.

EXHIBIT 4. Disparities in adolescents’ annual exposure to deadly gun violence within 500 meters of home or school, by ethnoracial group and income, 2014–17

SOURCE Authors’ analysis of data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, 2014–17, using data from the Gun Violence Archive to determine locations of deadly gun violence. NOTES Income groups are defined in the notes to exhibit 1. The bar for any exposure indicates exposure near home or school; the bar for both exposures indicates exposure near both home and school. There are three subgroups in which none (0 percent) of the adolescents were exposed to deadly gun violence within 500 meters: No poor White adolescents were exposed in both contexts, no middle-to-high-income White adolescents were exposed near home, and no middle-to-high-income White adolescents were exposed in both contexts.