Deanna Wilkinson of Ohio State University said 51 percent had been shot themselves and 78 percent said they had a close friend who died in a violent attack.

In comparison, a 1991 study of 4,200 U.S Army soldiers who fought on the front lines of the Gulf War found that 73 percent had seen someone killed or seriously wounded in combat.

"The study really uncovers how much trauma these young men have experienced in their past," Wilkinson said in a statement. "Many of these youth describe their neighborhoods as being like a war zone, and it is easy to see why."

The study involved interviews with 416 active violent offenders age 16-24 from two disadvantaged and high-crime New York City neighborhoods from 1995-1998. The study focused on how youth made decisions in potentially violent situations.

Analysis of the interviews suggest that these youth and young men have developed internalized "scripts" that help them determine how to respond in dangerous situations.

The findings are published in the Journal of Community Psychology.