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. 2021 May 15:15:100820.
doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100820. eCollection 2021 Sep.

Age at first alcohol use and weapon carrying among adolescents: Findings from the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey

Philip Baiden  1 , Nusrat Jahan  2 , Henry K Onyeaka  3 , Shawndaya Thrasher  4 , Savarra Tadeo  5 , Erin Findley  1
Affiliations

Age at first alcohol use and weapon carrying among adolescents: Findings from the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey

Philip Baiden et al. SSM Popul Health. .

Abstract

Background: Although studies have investigated the association between alcohol use and violent behaviors such as weapon carrying, few studies have examined the association between age at first alcohol use and weapon-carrying among adolescents. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between age at first alcohol use and weapon carrying among adolescents.

Methods: Data for this study came from the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. An analytic sample of 13,442 adolescents aged 14-18 years old (51% female) was analyzed using binary logistic regression. The outcome variable investigated in this study was weapon carrying during the past 30 days, and the main explanatory variable investigated was age at first alcohol use.

Results: Of the 13,442 adolescents, 13.5% carried a weapon during the past 30 days, and 15.4% reported having their first alcoholic drink before age 13. In the multivariable logistic regression, adolescents who reported having alcohol before age 13 had more than double the odds of carrying a weapon when compared to those who never had alcohol before age 13 (AOR = 2.32, p < .001, 95% CI = 1.87-2.89). Other significant factors associated with weapon carrying include male gender, victim of bullying, teen dating violence, sexual violence, suicidal ideation, and history of substance use. Adolescents who self-identified as Black/African American or Hispanic were significantly less likely to carry a weapon when compared to adolescents who self-identified as non-Hispanic White.

Conclusion: The findings of this study underscore the importance of developing age appropriate intervention strategies to curb early initiation of alcohol use and weapon carrying among adolescents.

Keywords: Adolescents; Age at first alcohol use; Victimization; Violent behaviors; Weapon carrying.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interests with respect to the authorship and/or the publication of this paper.

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