Weapon carrying in a sample of high school students in New Zealand

Objective: To examine self-report of carrying weapons and correlates in a sample of New Zealand high school students. Method. A sample of 652 Year 11 students from all Dunedin high schools completed a web-based version of the US Youth Risk Behaviour Survey. This included questions on weapon carrying, fighting, and feeling unsafe at school, as well as measures of family and peer/friend connectedness and perception of school climate. Results: Reports of ever carrying a weapon and carrying one in the last 30 days were relatively common, being 27.5% and 19.3% respectively. Weapon carrying in the last 30 days was strongly associated with being male, fighting in the last year, missing school due to feeling unsafe, and a poorer perception of school climate. Conclusions: Many high school students report weapon carrying, which in turn was associated with other aspects of physical aggression. Further study of the lethality of weapons being carried and the context in which they might be used is clearly warranted.