Call for Papers: Child Firearm Injury & Domestic Violence

Children at Risk’s Journal of Applied Research on Children and Journal of Family Strengths seek papers on two special issue topics: child firearm injury/safety and the impact of COVID-19 on domestic violence.

Journal of Applied Research on Children

Children at Risk and the Texas Medical Center Library request submissions for an upcoming special issue of the Journal of Applied Research on Children (JARC). JARC seeks to provide a powerful link between data and policy solutions to strengthen the arguments of child advocates across the country. In this upcoming issue, JARC aims to feature articles contributing to a full-spectrum prevention approach to firearm unintentional and intentional injuries across key sectors within a community.

The United States remains a global outlier in its firearm ownership rates, with a correspondingly higher risk of youth firearm violence compared to other countries. Little is known of disparities in youth firearm violence and the factors in the social ecology driving these disparities.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) among adolescents, or teen dating violence (TDV), is a significant public health issue that may affect up to two-thirds of youth aged 12–18. Gun violence among adolescents is similarly high, accounting for 18.7% of all firearm injuries from 2010 to 2016. Despite these statistics and evidence showing that TDV continues into adulthood as IPV, gun-related TDV has not received the same level of attention as adult IPV. The intersection of teen dating violence and gun violence has received relatively little attention compared to gun violence in adult relationships.

Interested authors are encouraged to submit an abstract or letter of interest to the managing editor at jarc@childrenatrisk.org by July 23, 2021.

Journal of Family Strengths

Children at Risk, Prairie View A&M University, and the Texas Medical Center Library request paper submissions for the Journal of Family Strengths (JFS). JFS serves to inform policy and practice affecting children and families by providing applied research to practitioners, child advocates, policymakers, and the public on timely children and family issues.

For the upcoming Volume 21, Issue 1, JFS seeks manuscripts that focus on men, women, and children in isolation with abusers and other domestic violence developments resulting from the pandemic.

Family violence during pandemics is associated with a range of factors, including economic stress, disaster‐related instability, increased exposure to exploitative relationships, and reduced options for support. Reports of domestic abuse and family violence have grown worldwide since social isolation and quarantine measures came into force. As quarantine measures extended to the United States, individual states reported similar increases in domestic abuse incidents ranging from 21% to 35% (Wagers 2020).

Isolation paired with psychological and economic stressors accompanying the pandemic and potential increases in harmful coping mechanisms can come together in a perfect storm to trigger an unprecedented wave of family violence.

Interested authors are encouraged to submit an abstract or letter of interest to the managing editor at jfs@childrenatrisk.org by July 26, 2021.

As a leader in research on the needs of children and families in Texas, Children at Risk is committed to using data and peer-reviewed research to drive change for children. Visit our Research Page to see past issues and research efforts.