Weapons at School: Are the Predictors Generalizable Across Context?

This study addresses the reasons for school-based weapon carrying across three diverse county-level contexts. Weapon carrying among students at school has been, until very recently, neglected in research. Further, much of the information that is available is non-comparative. Hence, whether the etiology of in-school weapon carrying is generalizable across diverse settings remains largely an unanswered question. The present study moves toward a test of generalizability by comparing student weapon possession and its antecedents in three geographically, economically, and culturally distinct communities in Kentucky. Findings suggest that few differences exist across context regarding the etiology of school-based weapon carrying. Regardless of community context, peer weapon carrying as well as criminal lifestyle are important predictors of adolescents carrying weapons to school.