Structural Racism and Youth Firearm Violence: Socioecological Mechanisms and Resilience

Abstract

While firearm violence is the leading cause of death for youth (ages 10 to 24) in the United States, like other public health issues, Black youth disproportionately shoulder the burden of nonfatal and fatal firearm injury. Historical (e.g., redlining) and contemporary (e.g., racialized economic segregation) forms of structural racism have been identified as contributors to racial inequities in firearm violence and injury. Translating this research into culturally responsive youth firearm violence prevention programs will require addressing several critical knowledge gaps about how structural racism influences youth firearm violence. Our overarching goal is to generate knowledge to inform youth firearm prevention programs that address the insidious downstream effects of structural racism. In service to this goal, we will conduct secondary analyses using longitudinal survey data of 349 Black youth (ages 14-24) presenting to the primary emergency department in Flint, Michigan (Flint Youth Injury Study). Our project consists of three objectives. First, we will inform the development of a place-based measure of structural racism (at the census tract level) to assess the influence of structural racism on youth firearm violence outcomes (e.g., firearm carriage and aggression). Second, we will test socioecological mechanisms underlying the link between structural racism and youth firearm violence to inform the development of youth firearm violence prevention efforts that address the multiple consequences of structural racism. Third, we will evaluate resilience-promotive factors (e.g., organized activity participation, mentorship) that can mitigate the influence of structural racism on youth firearm violence. This project will provide a first look at how the socioecological consequences of structural racism shapes racial disparities in youth firearm violence. It will also provide the foundation for a larger research proposal (e.g., R01) in which academic and community partners co-design and co-implement a longitudinal research project to elucidate additional key pathways from structural racism to firearm violence.