Weapon Carrying Among Rural Southern Illinois Elementary School Children

Brief communication 413 WEAPON CARRYING AMONG RURAL SOUTHERN ILLINOIS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN Public health leaders see violence, an often learned behavior spreading across diverse segments of society, as an epidemic.1"3 A higher incidence of weapon carrying among youths, particularly the carrying of guns, has been identified as a primary factor in the escalation of youth violence.4 Gibbs discusses much-publicized incidents of school violence in which students used guns to kill their classmates and teachers.5 In his report on youth violence,6 the surgeon general announced that the proportion of students involved in both fatal and nonfatal violence involving guns has increased. Callahan and Rivara found in their survey of 970 eleventh-grade students in Seattle, Washington, that handgun availability was not associated with any one socioeconomic or ethnic group.7 Weapon carrying, in particular handgun carrying, however, was related to problem behaviors such as distributing drugs, assaulting a teacher, or being suspended or expelled from school. Myers et al. argue that weapon carrying among adolescents is an adaptation to the local social environment.8 A number of researchers have investigated the prevalence of weapon carrying among students. In one study, researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed data collected from 16,262 high school students who completed the 1997 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS).9 Findings from this 1997 survey indicated that more than 18 percent of students had carried a weapon (defined as a gun, knife, or club) in the previous 30 days. Furthermore, data showed that 27.7 percent of male students and 7 percent of female students had carried a weapon, indicating that male students were much more likely to carry weapons than female students. Male students also were more likely than female students to carry guns (9.6 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively). Results of the 1999 YRBSS are similar, revealing that more than 17 percent of high school students (28.6 percent of male students and 6 percent of female students) had carried a weapon during the 30 days preceding the survey10 Prevalence rates for weapon carrying among students in other studies range between 12.5 percent and 17 percent.11"14 When prevalence rates for male and female students were reviewed, findings are similar to those of the Received September 26,1999; revised April 30, 2001 and September 10,2001; accepted October 11, 2001. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved · Vol. 13, No. 4 · 2002 DOI: 10.1177/104920802237528 414 Weapon Carrying YRBSS. Across studies, prevalence rates for female students are much lower (3 percent to 8 percent) than prevalence rates for male students (9.6 percent to 27 percent).12,13 Some of this research also suggests that there are certain risk factors or characteristics of youths who are more likely to carry a weapon. Bailey et al., using a multivariate logistic regression model, conclude that being male, not living with both parents, being involved in physical fighting, school vandalism, drinking alcohol, not feeling close to parents, and the perception that other students carried weapons at school are all associated with weapon carrying.11 Myers et al., in their study of 113 African American 12- to 15-year-olds, found that those adolescents who carried a weapon were 17.8 times more likely to believe their peers carried weapons than adolescents who did not carry a weapon.8 Other risk factors or characteristics identified in the literature include previous exposure to either weapons or violence and being an older student in class.15"17 Simon et al.13 and DuRant et al.15 cited risk-taking behavior , depression, drug use, stress, urban dwelling, and illegally owning guns as indicative of adolescents likely to carry a weapon. One important risk factor identified by Bailey et al.11 and Myers et al.8 is the perception by students that their peers are carrying weapons. Finally, there appears to be a link between parents owning guns and early exposure to, and experience with, guns.16 Using data collected from 764 telephone interviews of randomly selected heads of households in Illinois, Lizotte and Bordua found that a person was more likely to...