@article {343616, title = {Social Networks and the Risk of Gunshot Injury}, journal = {Journal of Urban Health}, volume = {89}, number = {6}, year = {2012}, pages = {992-1003}, address = {Boston}, abstract = {Direct and indirect exposure to gun violence have considerable consequences on individual health and well-being. However, no study has considered the effects of one{\textquoteright}s social network on gunshot injury. This study investigates the relationship between an individual{\textquoteright}s position in a high-risk social network and the probability of being a victim of a fatal or non-fatal gunshot wound by combining observational data from the police with records of fatal and non-fatal gunshot injuries among 763 individuals in Boston{\textquoteright}s Cape Verdean community. A logistic regression approach is used to analyze the probability of being the victim of a fatal or non-fatal gunshot wound and whether such injury is related to age, gender, race, prior criminal activity, exposure to street gangs and other gunshot victims, density of one{\textquoteright}s peer network, and the social distance to other gunshot victims. The findings demonstrate that 85\ \% all of the gunshot injuries in the sample occur within a single social network. Probability of gunshot victimization is related to one{\textquoteright}s network distance to other gunshot victims: each network association removed from another gunshot victim reduces the odds of gunshot victimization by 25\ \% (odds ratio = 0.75}, keywords = {Firearms, Gun violence, Homicide, Social Networks, Street Gangs}, author = {Papachristos, Andrew and Braga, Anthony and Hureau, David} }