American Journal of Public Health, Volume 115, Issue 12, Page 1967-1970, December 2025.
Archives
Examining longitudinal associations between polysubstance use and firearm-related risk behaviors from adolescence into emerging adulthood: a group-based multi-trajectory modeling approach
Firearm access and associated risk behaviors (i.e., firearm storage and carriage) are established factors that increase the risk of firearm-related injuries. While extant research has demonstrated associations…
The overlooked role of the home in mass shooting fatalities
Prevention efforts for mass shooting fatalities often focus on public events, overlooking where most fatalities occur. This study analyzes a comprehensive database to better inform prevention strategies.
The effect of child access prevention laws on adolescent suicide
Recent publications on Child Access Prevention (CAP) laws suggest substantial protective effects on adolescent firearm suicide. However, these studies have also found comparable protective effect estimates on …
Racial and ethnic disparities in pediatric firearm deaths 22/23
Firearms became the leading cause of death in the United States pediatric population in 2019 and have persisted as the leading cause through 2021, with widening racial and ethnic disparities. We aimed to exami…
Community violence exposure and teen parental firearm ownership
Firearm injuries are the leading cause of death for U.S. adolescents. Given the prevalence of firearm ownership in the U.S., particularly among parental figures in homes with children and teens, and the relati…
Community violence exposure and teen parental firearm ownership
Firearm injuries are the leading cause of death for U.S. adolescents. Given the prevalence of firearm ownership in the U.S., particularly among parental figures in homes with children and teens, and the relati…
Childrens participatory needs in injury prevention
Background
Child-centred approaches in injury prevention emphasise the importance of practising bidirectional communications and decentring researcher–child power relations to support children’s participation in research. To date, however, a dearth of scholarship offers methodological reflections on how to bolster children’s feelings of comfort in discussing sensitive topics such as their injury experiences.
Goal
Drawing from lessons we learnt working with children in a low-income to mid-income neighbourhood in Vancouver, Canada, we discuss the ways in which our strategies to support their participation succeeded in, and at times fell short of, supporting their participatory needs.
Discussion
Our discussions focus attention on two important areas for consideration in future injury prevention studies: (1) Children’s inclusion in research and the demand for them to share experience and (2) supporting children’s right to invite and comfort in discussing sensitive topics such as injury experiences. We discuss the benefits of making research fun for children and being sensitive to their needs at preliminary recruitment and data collection stages.
Implications
These discussions can strengthen researchers’ work with children by helping them to reflect on strategies that can bolster their desire to participate and feel comfortable sharing perspectives.
Examining the role of firearm involvement in repeat intimate partner violence assaults
Intimate partner violence (IPV) remains a pervasive and complex issue with significant social and public health implications. The nexus of firearms and intimate partner violence (IPV) is an especially dangerou…
Injury Prevention Science and Firearm Injury in Pediatric Health
In this issue of JAMA, Wolf et al found that during the period from 2019 to 2021, the US experienced the greatest increase in all-cause pediatric fatalities (aged 1-19 years) in more than 50 years, with increased mortality disproportionately resulting from preventable injuries. Importantly, the authors identified widening racial and ethnic disparities across these preventable health outcomes, particularly for American Indian or Alaska Native and Black populations. The most stark differences were observed for homicide and suicide, with Black youth 10 times more likely to die by homicide and American Indian or Alaska Native youth almost 3 times more like to die by suicide compared with White youth. Among both populations, firearms remain the dominant mechanism of injury underlying homicide and suicide deaths, and firearm fatalities were identified by Wolf et al as one of the largest factors in observed disparities. Such findings are consistent with the trends that have been observed in the US throughout the past decade, where the firearm injury epidemic has continued to advance unabated and has now superseded motor vehicle crash deaths as the leading cause of death for US children and teens.