Health Disparities
Racial and ethnic variation in rates of injury and death from violent victimization among boys and men in California from 2005-2022 Caitlin S. Chan* Caitlin Chan Chan Chan Chan University of California, Berkeley
Background:
Violent victimization of boys and men is a major public health concern. A majority of victims of violent assault are male, including three-quarters of homicide victims in the United States, with evidence of variation by race and ethnicity. Enumeration of long-term population trends in male violent victimization sheds light on shifting patterns and provides context for further examination of structural processes.
Methods:
We conducted a retrospective cohort study to examine changes in rates of violent victimization of boys and men across California from 2005 to 2022, stratified by race and ethnicity. We calculated age-adjusted rates of fatal and total (fatal and non-fatal) assault injuries using hospital and death records of California residents recorded as male. We calculated rates as cases per 100,000 person-years using Census population estimates.
Results:
State-wide rates of total male violent victimization were highest in 2007 at 524.91 and lowest in 2020 at 368.46, with 2018 marking a clear sustained drop in rates, and heterogeneity between the groups defined by race and ethnicity. Homicide rates were lowest in 2005 at 12.6 and highest in 2019 at 7.73, and did not follow the same time trend as total violent victimization. Rates of total violent victimization dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic, but homicide rates increased. Subgroup analyses revealed substantially elevated rates of total violent victimization of Black and Multiracial residents (1370.04 & 795.16) and elevated homicide rates of Black residents (46.42).
Conclusion:
Violent victimization of men and boys in California declined slightly over two decades, but racial inequities have not declined over time, indicating structural patterning and a lack of sustained improvement in violence prevention at the population level. Stable inequities in violent victimization by race and ethnicity may reflect structural influences and the institutional priorities of California’s political economy.
