Scared Kids, Unattached Kids, or Peer Pressure

Abstract

This study assesses the impact of fear of criminal victimization on juvenile firearm possession at school, while controlling for variables in Hirschi's social bond theory and a derivative of Sutherland's differential association theory. Using responses from a sample of approximately 8,000 public high school students in a southeastern state, this research highlights a statistically significant association between adolescents' fear of criminal victimization and their firearm possession at school, even after controlling for the aforementioned explanations of crime.