ABSTRACT

The main purpose of this article and this special section is to encourage greater attention to the key gaps that exist in our understanding of the epidemiology of adolescent firearm violence and to provide a pathway forward for future longitudinal research that will inform prevention efforts. This increased attention is especially salient given: (a) firearms are the leading cause of death for adolescents and emerging adults in the United States, with the majority of these deaths due to interpersonal violence; (b) significant health and social disparities with regards to the populations that are most affected by interpersonal firearm violence have been documented; and, (c) limitations in federal research funding during the past 30 years have created a deficit of knowledge about key risk and protective factors necessary to inform evidence-based prevention efforts. We discuss the implications of the articles in this special edition for existing and novel prevention programs. We also identify key considerations for future epidemiological research, including the need for a greater focus on collecting longitudinal data among nationally representative samples enriched with subgroups of at-risk youth, the need to examine the role of protective factors and mediating variables within existing and novel theoretical models of firearm risk behaviors, the need to examine key factors across all levels of the socio-ecological model, and the need to incorporate novel and innovative research designs, methods and analyses.

摘要

本文和本特别章节的主要目的是鼓励更多地关注我们对青少年枪支暴力流行病学的理解中存在的关键差距，并为未来的纵向研究提供一条前进的道路，为预防工作提供信息。这种日益增加的关注尤为突出，因为：(a) 枪支是美国青少年和新生成年人死亡的主要原因，其中大多数死亡是由于人际暴力造成的；(b) 据记录，受人际火器暴力影响最严重的人群在健康和社会方面存在显着差异；(c) 过去 30 年联邦研究经费的限制导致人们对关键风险和保护因素的了解不足，而这些知识对于为基于证据的预防工作提供信息是必需的。我们讨论了本特刊中的文章对现有和新型预防计划的影响。我们还确定了未来流行病学研究的关键考虑因素，包括需要更加注重收集富含高危青少年亚组的全国代表性样本的纵向数据，需要检查现有和新的保护因素和中介变量的作用。枪支风险行为的理论模型，需要检查社会生态模型各个层面的关键因素，以及需要纳入新颖和创新的研究设计、方法和分析。