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. 2022 Aug;63(2):204-212.
doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2022.02.007. Epub 2022 Mar 15.

Racial Disparities in Child Exposure to Firearm Violence Before and During COVID-19

Rachel Martin  1 , Sonali Rajan  2 , Faizah Shareef  1 , Kristal C Xie  1 , Kalice A Allen  1 , Marc Zimmerman  3 , Jonathan Jay  4
Affiliations

Racial Disparities in Child Exposure to Firearm Violence Before and During COVID-19

Rachel Martin et al. Am J Prev Med. 2022 Aug.

Abstract

Introduction: Childhood exposure to neighborhood firearm violence adversely affects mental and physical health across the life course. Study objectives were to (1) quantify racial disparities in these exposures across the U.S. and (2) assess changes during the COVID-19 pandemic, when firearm violence increased.

Methods: The study used counts of children aged 5-17 years, disaggregated by U.S. Census racial category, for every census tract (N=73,056). Neighborhood firearm violence was the number of fatal shootings per census tract, based on 2015-2021 Gun Violence Archive data. Quasi-Poisson regressions were used to estimate baseline disparities and COVID-19‒related changes and examined differences across geographic regions.

Results: Prepandemic exposure was lowest among White children and highest among Black children, who experienced 4.44 times more neighborhood firearm violence exposure (95% CI=4.33, 4.56, p<0.001) than White children. The pandemic increased exposure by 27% in the lowest risk group (i.e., White children; 95% CI=20%, 34%, p<0.001), but pandemic effects were even greater for children in nearly all non-White categories. Baseline violence levels and racial disparities varied considerably by region, with the highest levels in the South and the largest magnitude disparities observed in the Northeast and Midwest.

Conclusions: Large-scale racial disparities exist in child exposure to neighborhood firearm violence, and these disparities grew during the pandemic. Equitable access to trauma-informed programs, community-based prevention, and structural reforms are urgently needed.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mean annual firearm homicide incidents in home census tract, by child's race. Note: Outcomes are incidents involving at least 1 firearm homicide. Time periods are pandemic years, starting on March 15 of the year listed and ending on March 14 of the following calendar year. These time periods correspond to the first 12 months during which the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted most routine activities in most U.S. geographies. Racial categories are mutually exclusive, using U.S. Census-designated racial categories, except for Asian Pacific Islander, which combines Asian and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander categories.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Regional differences in (A) rates of exposure; (B) racial disparities compared with the White group. Note: Data includes a full study time period (March 15, 2015‒March 14, 2021). The dashed line in Panel B is set to 1, interpreted as subgroup rate=White rate.
Figure 3
Figure 3
State-level differences in (A) rates of exposure; (B) racial disparities compared with the White group. Note: Data includes a full study time period (March 15, 2015‒March 14, 2021). Top values on each color scale correspond to approximate 95th percentile.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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