Multiple factors (mostly substance use) associated with guns & violence among youth

[HereSince1628]

With respect to the mental health information group, the findings often associated with mental illness...hopelessness, poor self-image had low associations with weapons carrying. Suicidal thoughts had a weak association. Concern about safety, feeling threatened and previous interpersonal conflict and substance use of any kind had stronger associations with weapons carrying. As is shown in the graphic of their figure 2.

Once again, associations aren't causation.
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Study identifies more than 40 different behavioral factors other than mental illness that are strongly associated with gun possession among youths , including (these are ordered by strength of association) heroin use, substance use on school property, having been injured in a fight, and having been a victim of sexual violence.

The study, “Gun Possession among American Youth: A Discovery-Based Approach to Understanding Gun Violence,” is also significant because of its breadth and sample size. Ruggles and Rajan used nationally representative data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System. Taking 5 million unique data points over a 10-year period (2001 to 2011), they looked at 55 risk behaviors, assessed which behaviors are likely to occur together, and calculated which combinations were more likely to occur with gun possession.

The following link to the article in PLOS ONE will go live at 2 p.m. Nov. 5: http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0111893.