Community norms on toy guns

Author: Cheng, T. L. / Brenner, R. A. / Wright, J. L. / Sachs, H. C. / Moyer, P. / Rao, M.
Publication: Pediatrics
Topics: Age Group Ethnicity Gender Local Social Science
Keywords: Children community norm toy gun play
Bibliographic information +

The authors evaluated community norms regarding toy gun play from the perspective from the parents’ perspective, administering a self-report questionnaire on child rearing attitudes, practice, and sociodemographic information to a convenience sample of parents who visited child health providers in the metropolitan Washington, DC area between January 1999 and July 2000. Of 830 respondents, 67% reported that it was never “OK for a child to play with toy guns,” and 66% stated that they never let their children play with toy guns. Being male and white, and having male children were associated with the belief that it is okay for children to play with toy guns. Such parents were also more likely to let their children play with toy guns.