Predictors of injury from fighting among adolescent males
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god ...@ziplip.com (God)
ORIGINAL ARTICLE Predictors of injury from fighting among adolescent males B J Hammig, L L Dahlberg and M H Swahn National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA Correspondence to: Dr Hammig bham...@siu.edu Reprint requests to: Alida Stancil, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy NE, Mailstop K-60, Atlanta, GA 30341-3724, USA ohci...@cdc.gov Abstract Objectives??”To identify violence related behaviors ***ociated with injuries among adolescent males involved in fights.
Methods??”Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were used to develop weighted estimates of injury prevalence and ***ociations between injury and violence related behaviors.
Results??”Forty seven per cent injured others and 18% were themselves injured in a fight among adolescent males in the preceding 12 months.
Group fighting, fighting with strangers, and weapon use were predictive of injury in this sample.
Conclusions??”These findings suggest that injuries ***ociated with fighting are a health risk among adolescent males. Certain behaviors, such as fighting in groups and fighting with strangers, increase the likelihood of injuries requiring medical attention.
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Keywords: violence; adolescent behavior Fighting is an ***aultive behavior among adolescents that may lead to an increased risk of injury or death. Recent national estimates from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey in the US indicate that, in 1997, 37% of students in grades 9??“12 had been in a fight within the preceding 12 months.1 Over the same period, approximately 4% reported seeking medical attention for an injury sustained from a fight, and 7% reported being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property.
Males are much more likely than females to be involved in a fight and to be victims and perpetrators of ***aults. Nationally, aggravated ***ault (that is, rape, weapon related ***ault, or ***ault with intent to harm) victimization rates among males exceed those among females (12/1000 v 6/1000), as do arrests for ***ault (82% v 18%).2 Although several studies have examined correlates of violent behaviors among youth,3??“9 few have ***essed the ***ociation between injury and fighting.3, 8 In this study, we examine the ***ociations between violent behaviors such as group fighting, weapon use, and circumstances surrounding fights, and the risk of a fight related injury among a nationally representative sample of adolescent males who reported being in a fight in the past 12 months.
Methods We used data from public use tapes of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (NLSAH). The study design and establishment of validity and reliability of the NLSAH have been described in detail elsewhere.10, 11 Briefly, the study used a clustered sampling design of a total of 145 middle, junior, and senior high schools stratified by census region, urbanicity, school type, ethnic composition, and enrollment size, to study a nationally representative sample of public and private school students.10, 11 During the first phase 76% (90 118) eligible students completed an in-school questionnaire; in the second phase, an in-home survey involved a random sample of 15 243 adolescents, stratified by gender and grade level. These students were selected from cl*** rosters of schools that had participated in the first phase of the study. An 80% response rate was achieved.
The in-home interview obtained information about several health issues including sexuality, substance use, physical activity, nutrition, peer networks, and violence. For personal questions, computer ***isted self interviewing (audio-CASI) was incorporated to protect confidentiality and limit parental influence on participant responses. Parental consent and local institutional review board approval were obtained.
The public use data tapes are based on a randomly selected subsample (n = 6504) of the original in-home sample. When weighted, the sample is representative of US adolescents in grades 7??“12. Although fighting and injuries are known to occur among females, we restricted our analyses to males because of previous findings of their significantly higher prevalence of fighting.3, 6 From this sample in the public use data tapes (n=3147), we analysed from those who reported involvement in a fight within the past 12 months (n=1314).
MEASURES From this secondary analysis, we constructed two main outcome variables: being injured and injuring another in a fight in the past 12 months. To measure the number of participants injured themselves, we examined responses to the question: "During the past 12 months, how many times were you in a physical fight in which you were injured and had to be treated by a doctor or nurse?" The number who injured someone else was ascertained by asking "In the past 12 months, how often did you hurt someone badly enough (for them) to need bandages or care from a doctor or nurse?" These outcome variables were dichotomized so that respondents who reported being injured or not in a fight were categorized as "yes," or "no". The same coding scheme was used for injuring another person.
Other violence related variables ***essed included aspects of fighting related behaviors and weapon related behaviors. Fighting related behaviors included group fighting, and where and with whom the person fought most recently. Group fighting was based on responses to the question: "In the past 12 months, how often did you take part in a fight where a group of your friends was against another group?" with responses categorized as "never," "1 or 2 times", or "3 or more times". Location of the most recent fight was grouped into two categories: "school" and "elsewhere". Opponents were grouped into three categories: "family/friend/acquaintance", "stranger", and "other" (such as a teacher or employer).
Weapon carrying was determined by the question: "During the past 30 days, on how many days did you carry a weapon??”such as a gun, knife or club??”to school?" A "yes" response was ***igned if they carried any weapon on one or more days. Two questions on weapon related activities were used to measure weapon use and the responses dichotomized as "yes" or "no".
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS We calculated prevalence estimates for fighting related injuries and bivariate ***ociations between each of the independent variables and the main outcome variables. Crude odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were also calculated. Two multivariate logistic regression models were created that included variables found to be significant in the bivariate analyses, to ***ess the independent effects of group fighting, weapon use, weapon carrying, and circumstances of fighting on the risk of injury to self and others. To ***ess potential multicollinearity between the independent variables, we conducted a Pearson product moment correlation analysis.
Correlation coefficients ranged from 0.05 to 0.35, suggesting that no multicollinearity problems existed. To account for the complex sampling design and to obtain national representation from the study sample, all statistical analyses were calculated on weighted data using the SUDAAN statistical package.12 Results Of the study sample (n = 1314), 59% were white, 26% black, and 15% were categorized as "other". Thirty five per cent of the students were in grade 7 or 8 and 65% were in grades 9??“12. Approximately 10% were in families receiving public ***istance.
Eighteen per cent reported needing medical attention as a result of an injury sustained in a fight in the past 12 months. Prevalence rates of injury were similar for middle and high school students (18% v 19%) and were also similar among the different racial and economic groups (table 1). Almost half reported that they had injured someone else badly enough that they needed medical attention??”slightly more high school students than middle school students (50% v 42%).
Results of bivariate logistic regression analyses between injury related variables and violence related variables are presented in table 2. Students who participated in group fighting three or more times were twice as likely (OR = 2.08; 95% CI 1.3 to 3.3) to have been injured in a fight than others. Likewise, those who fought with strangers were more likely to have been injured than were students who reported fighting with someone they knew (OR = 1.85; 95% CI=1.3 to 2.7). Those who reported using a weapon to threaten or harm someone and those who had carried a weapon to school in the past 30 days were more likely to be injured than those who did not. Students who reported group fighting, fighting with a stranger, or using or carrying a weapon were also more likely to have injured someone else.
The multivariate logistic regression model showed that group fighting three or more times and most recently fighting with a stranger, were each independently ***ociated with having been injured (table 3).
Participants who reported that their last fight occurred somewhere other than at school, were less likely to be injured when compared with students involved in a fight at school. Neither weapon carrying nor weapon use was ***ociated with being personally injured. With regard to injuring another person, group fighting, most recently fighting with a stranger, or having used a weapon to harm or threaten someone were each independently significant risk factors.
Discussion Several interesting findings are worth noting. Prevalence estimates for fight related injury were higher (18%) compared with other national studies. Other studies ***essing fight related injury have either included females in their analyses,3 or ***essed the prevalence of injury among all male adolescents without subsetting ...
Scott Rutter sZIGrut...@cfl.rr.com
Guess we should lock "god" up for his own safety.
- To Reply: Take off every Zig!
EAC - Director of Quantum Computing Ordained Minister - Universal Life Church
"JohnR" jry...@earthlink.net
behaviors ***ociated with I can tell you, from first hand experience, that the objectives of any application to perform any study in Health Departments or Medical "control" Organizations is to be granted the money attached to the grant applied for. Once funded, a small percentage of the grant money is used to construct documents that appear reasonably similar to what would be actually produced by a "real" study. The major portion of the "grant" is actually used to fund present salaries or the salary of additional staff, hired of course because of the additional "work load" the performance of the "research" requires.
This is one of the most popular, perpetual scams of public funds in existence. Of course the study can be predicted to produce exactly those results desired; for positional gain and for application to support further grant applications.
John
Joseph Lovell subd...@sonic.net
NO Shit! You mean to tell us that when kids fight someone might get hurt?!?!?! I never would have guessed!
And, when strangers fight someone is more likely to get hurt then when friends fight! Amazing! And if weapons are used people are even more likely to get hurt! Imagine that, people getting hurt when weapons are used.
Next week they will announce to the world that if you hug a cholla while naked you will likely get stuck by the spines. Or that if you hold a burning piece of charcoal in your unprotected hand you may get burned (3% error on that prediction).
"Yardpilot" yardpi...@comcast.net
I'd like to see their margin of error in a study correlating the presence of an individual at ground zero at the instant of a nuclear blast with the death of that individual..
fta ...@yahooo.com (Gray Ghost)
Ya know, it takes a real moron to spend money on this. Send me a check for $100,000 and I'll tell you what happens when my 9 year son and his 10 year old cousin are together for a week.
Frank
Joseph Lovell subd...@sonic.net
Hey! WE paid for that study! Came from CDCP. So we paid gawd knows how much so some "researchers" who are too slow and thick to do honest work can diddle around and produce a so called study. They could have reached the same conclusion by spending half an hour talking to parents at random in front of the supermarket.
"Yardpilot" yardpi...@comcast.net
Write a grant application to the CDC.
"Scout" scou...@earthlink.net
They probably did........
The rest of the grant went for booze....
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