Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Changes in Attitudes toward Guns and Shootings following Implementation of the Baltimore Safe Streets Intervention

  • Published:
Journal of Urban Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Among youth 15 to 24 years of age, homicide and nonfatal shootings are the leading causes of mortality and morbidity. Urban youth’s attitudes and perceptions about the use of gun violence to resolve conflict present a major barrier to efforts to reduce gun homicides and nonfatal shootings. The current investigation extends the existing literature on attitudes toward guns and shootings among high-risk youth ages 18 to 24 by measuring perceived norms and viewpoints regarding gun violence in two analogous Baltimore City neighborhoods pre-implementation and 1-year post-implementation of the Safe Streets intervention (adapted from the CeaseFire/Cure Violence intervention). The Safe Streets intervention is designed for communities with high rates of gun violence and utilizes outreach workers to identify and build trusting relationships with youth ages 15 to 24 who are at greatest risk of being involved in gun violence. The outreach workers also position themselves in the community so that they can rapidly intervene in disputes that have the potential to lead to gun violence. Chi-squared tests and exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) were used to examine changes in attitudes toward gun violence 1 year after the implementation of the Safe Streets intervention. There was a statistically significantly improvement in 43 % of the attitudes assessed in the intervention community post-intervention compared to 13 % of the attitudes in the control community. There was a statistically significant improvement in the violent attitudes toward personal conflict resolution scale after implementation of the intervention in both the intervention (b = −0.522, p < 0.001) and control community (b = −0.204, p < 0.032). Exposure to the intervention (e.g., seeing stop shooting signs in your neighborhood) was also associated with the nonviolent attitudes toward conflict scale. Overall, the study found greater improvement in attitudes toward violence in the intervention community following the implementation of the Safe Streets program. These findings offer promising insights into future community violence prevention efforts.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

FIG. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Planty M, Truman JL. Bureau of Justice Statistics, special report: firearm violence, 1993–2011. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics; 2013. http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/fv9311.pdf. Accessed on: October 17, 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  2. United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation. Crime in the United States, 2014. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2015. https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2014/crime-in-the-u.s.-2014. Accessed on: October 17, 2015.

  3. Vittes KA, Vernick JS, Webster DW. Legal status and source of offenders’ firearms in states with the least stringent criteria for gun ownership. Inj Prev. 2013; 19: 26–31.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Shapiro JP, Dorman RL, Welker CJ, Clough JB. Youth attitudes towards guns and violence: relations with sex, age, ethnic group, and firearm exposure. J Clin Child Psychol. 1998; 27(1): 98–108.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Anderson E. The code of the street: decency, violence, and the moral life of the inner city. New York: WW Norton & Co; 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Wilkinson DL. Guns, violence and identity among African American and Latino youth. New York: LFB Scholarly Publishing; 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Rich JAN, Jones VC, Haynie DL, Simons-Morton BG, Wright JL, Cheng TL. Factors associated with retaliatory attitudes among African American adolescents who have been assaulted. J Pediatr Psychol. 2007; 32(7): 760–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Rich JA, Stone DA. The experience of violent injury for young African American men: the meaning of being a sucker. J Gen Intern Med. 1996; 11(6): 77–82.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Rich JA, Gray CM. Pathways to recurrent trauma among young black men: traumatic stress, substance use, and the “code of the street”. Am J Public Health. 2005; 95: 816–24.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Chang DC, Cornwell EE, Sutton ERH, Yonas MA, Allen F. A multidisciplinary youth violence-prevention initiative: impact on attitudes. J Am Coll Surg. 2005; 201(5): 721–3.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Butts JA, Roman CG, Bostwick L, Porter JR. Cure violence: a public health model to reduce gun violence. Annu Rev Public Health. 2015; 36: 39–53.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Goldberg AJ, Toto JM, Kulp HR, Lloyd ME, Gaughan JP, Seamon MJ, Charles SP. An analysis of innercity students’ attitudes towards violence before and after participation in the “cradle to grave” programme. Injury. 2010; 41: 110–5.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Shapiro JP, Dorman RL, Burkey WM. Development and factor analysis of a measure of youth attitudes towards guns and violence. J Clin Child Psychol. 1997; 26: 311–20.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Cure Violence. Cure violence: the model website. www.cureviolence/the-model.org. Accessed on: November 29, 2015.

  15. Webster DW, Whitehill JM, Vernick JS, Curriero FC. Effects of Baltimore’s Safe Streets program on gun violence: a replication of Chicago’s CeaseFire program. J Urban Health: Bull N Y Acad Med. 2013; 90: 27–40. doi:10.1007/s11524-012-9731-5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Milam AJ, Furr-Holden CDM, Leaf PJ, Webster D. Managing conflicts in urban communities: youth attitudes regarding gun violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2016; Epub ahead of print.

  17. Baltimore City Health Department. Safe Streets Park Heights web site. http://health.baltimorecity.gov/sites/default/files/health/attachments/brochure_PH.pdf. Accessed on: January 7, 2016.

  18. Asparouhov T, Muthen B. Exploratory structural equation modeling. Struct Equation Model A Multidisciplinary J. 2009; 16: 397–438.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Browne MW. An overview of analytic rotation in exploratory factor analysis. Multivariate Behav Res. 2001; 36: 111–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Marsh HW, Muthén B, Asparouhov T, et al. Exploratory structural equation modeling, integrating CFA and EFA: application to students’ evaluations of university teaching. Struct Equation Model A Multidisciplinary J. 2009; 16: 439–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Furr-Holden CDM, Lee MH, Johnson R, et al. Neighborhood environment and marijuana use in urban young adults. Prev Sci. 2015; 16: 268–78.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  22. Jelleyman T, Spencer N. Residential mobility in childhood and health outcomes: a systematic review. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2008; 62(7): 584–92.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Voight A, Shinn M, Nation M. The longitudinal effects of residential mobility on the academic achievement of urban elementary and middle school students. Educ Res. 2008; 41(9): 385–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 1U01CE001954-01A1.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mental Health, Center for the Prevention of Youth Violence, Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 N. Broadway, 8th floor, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA

    Adam J. Milam, C. Debra M. Furr-Holden, Philip J. Leaf, Catherine P. Bradshaw & Daniel Webster

  2. Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 N. Broadway, 5th floor, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA

    Adam J. Milam & Shani A. Buggs

Authors
  1. Adam J. Milam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Shani A. Buggs
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. C. Debra M. Furr-Holden
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Philip J. Leaf
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Catherine P. Bradshaw
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Daniel Webster
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Adam J. Milam.

Ethics declarations

The data collection and data analysis were approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Milam, A.J., Buggs, S.A., Furr-Holden, C.D.M. et al. Changes in Attitudes toward Guns and Shootings following Implementation of the Baltimore Safe Streets Intervention. J Urban Health 93, 609–626 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-016-0060-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-016-0060-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation