Adolescents ages 12 to 18 who live in the rural United States and drink heavily have a 43% greater probability of carrying a handgun in the following year, according to a new study.
“Our understanding of adolescent firearm use and related behaviors has come largely from adolescents in urban areas,” says Elizabeth Weybright, an associate professor in the human development department at Washington State University and coauthor of the study published in the Journal of Rural Health.
“Rural areas are geographically different and have their own unique culture. We wanted to examine whether the association between handgun carrying and other risky behaviors such as alcohol use shows the same positive association among rural adolescents as it does among urban adolescents.”
The researchers took data for the study from a longitudinal sample of 2,002 youths ages 12 to 26 in 12 rural communities throughout seven states, including Washington. They collected survey responses annually from 2004 to 2019, tracking participants through adolescence into young adulthood. Heavy drinking was defined as consuming five or more alcoholic drinks in a row at least once in the previous two weeks.
“An inherent strength of this data is that it followed the same individuals for so long. Not all studies do this,” Weybright says. “Longitudinal data shows how one behavior may impact another over time. This level of detail can help us understand which behavior comes first and point us in the right direction for targeting behaviors through prevention or intervention.”
The association between heavy drinking and handgun-carrying was also evident in young adults ages 19 to 26, notes senior study author Ali Rowhani-Rahbar, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington School of Public Health and pediatrics at the UW School of Medicine. Individuals in that age group who drink heavily are 38% more likely to carry a handgun.
The researchers say their findings can inform strategies to discourage drinking and thereby decrease the likelihood of handgun-carrying among youth and young adults in rural areas. The findings, coupled with existing evidence-based approaches, might also offer key tactics to lower the homicide and suicide rates among adolescents in rural areas, the study concludes.
“We desperately need prevention approaches and interventions tailored to rural communities,” Weybright says. “This study informs what these interventions can and should be targeting. Knowing there is an association between alcohol and handgun carrying means some prevention programs that target substance use could also impact handgun carrying.”
Understanding youth behaviors associated with carrying a firearm has significant safety implications. In 2020, suicide and homicide were among the leading causes of death among US individuals ages 12 to 26 years. About 91% of homicides and 52% of suicides among this age group involved a firearm, the study notes.
Recent evidence suggests that rural adolescents may start carrying a handgun earlier and with higher frequency and duration than their urban counterparts. Handgun-carrying is associated with bullying, physical violence, and other risk factors for violence, the study shows.
Preventing or delaying handgun-carrying among rural adolescents may be an important strategy for preventing firearm-related harm, the authors note.
“Adolescent behaviors are often carried into adulthood,” Weybright says. “If we can understand this pattern of behavior, we can support future adolescents by preventing them from engaging in behaviors we know are risky or are associated with risky outcomes. Targeting alcohol use may be an effective strategy for also reducing later handgun carrying.”
The study, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is part of a larger project that seeks to fully investigate how rural adolescents view and engage with handguns.
Weybright, who contributed to the manuscript’s conceptualization and revision, was part of the group who applied for funding. She also coauthored a separate study on early prevention systems’ impact on handgun violence in rural communities.
Additional coauthors are from Washington State, the University of Washington, and Arizona State University.
Source: Washington State
