Parents’ views on toy guns vary by gender and race

Race, gender and other social factors may explain why some parents allow their children to play with toy guns, while others shudder at the thought, a Johns Hopkins researcher reports in the January issue of Pediatrics.

Almost 70 percent of parents surveyed felt it was “never OK” for a parent to let a child play with toy guns. The parents who allowed their children to play with toy guns were more likely to be male, with male children, and Caucasian. Families with younger children and mothers were more likely to limit toy gun play.

In general, researchers found the gender and age of the child, gender of the parent, and race of the family factored significantly into parents’ attitudes about allowing their children to play with toy guns.

“This study calls attention to an issue that has been largely unstudied – assessing community norms on toy gun play from the perspective of parents,” says lead author Tina Cheng, M.D., Ph.D., director of general pediatrics and adolescent medicine at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. Cheng led the study while at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

According to Cheng, some studies have linked toy gun play with aggressive behavior, and some child health professionals counsel families to limit this type of activity. Concerns about toy guns also include potential confusion of toy guns with real guns and the dangers of toy guns with projectiles, all of which could potentially cause serious injury to both the child and others.

“There needs to be more study on the impact of toy gun play on child behavior. Understanding what parents think about issues like toy gun play and what their parenting practices are may be a first step in designing effective community-based prevention programs,” said Cheng.