Adolescents carrying handguns and taking them to school: psychosocial correlates among public school students in Illinois.

The current study sought to examine psychosocial correlates of adolescents carrying a handgun and taking a handgun to school. Survey participants were approximately 22,000 6th, 8th, and 10th grade public school students from throughout Illinois. Results showed that the strongest correlates of handgun carrying behaviours were variables directly associated with handguns and violence, both behaviours and beliefs, as well as delinquency variables. These findings have many implications for intervention by parents, schools, and policy makers to reduce the incidence of adolescent handgun carrying and taking a handgun to school.