It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
"Yes, they are coming and, yes, there are more of them: Ever since the first ghoulish proto-vampires, werewolves and zombies lurched from the preliterate shadows to stalk the cuneiform-on-clay myths of Mesopotamia, they remain undead despite the passage of four millennia, adapting endlessly to every time and every place -- perhaps none more than our own."
More Info: July/August 2012, Saudi Aramco World Magazine
This essay started life as a paper for the Manchester Gothic Festival and was adapted for the Supernatural Cities Conference in Limerick 2017. It is now destined for a special OGOM edition of Gothic Studies, 'Wolves, Werewolves and Wilderness' to be published in the spring of 2018.
In 1865, Sabine Baring-Gould (1834-1924) argued that ‘English folklore is singularly barren of werewolf stories, the reason being that wolves had been extirpated from England under the Anglo Saxon Kings, and therefore ceased to be objects of dread to the people’.
The Dictionary of English Folklore similarly informs us that ‘there are no werewolf tales in English folklore, presumably because wolves have been extinct here for centuries’.
These longstanding assumptions make the present day sightings of the English werewolf known as‘Old Stinker’ all the more unusual. What is most pertinent about this latest folk panic is that‘Old Stinker’ inhabits a landscape which is thought to have accommodated some of the last wolves in England. These sightings coincide with a phase of severe environmental damage.This has not taken the form of sudden catastrophe, but rather a slow grinding away of species.The result is a contemporary landscape constituted more actively by what is missing than by what is present, a spectred, rather than ‘a scepter’d isle’.The Victorian novelist Emily Gerard (1849-1905) explained the Romanian belief in the werewolf by associating it with a continuing fear of the wolf: ‘it is safe to prophesy that as long as the flesh-and-blood wolf continues to haunt the Transylvanian forests, so long will his spectre brother survive in the minds of the people’.
The emergence of an English werewolf (‘Old Stinker’) in Hull in the present day has reopened debates about the spectre werewolf’s relationship to the ‘flesh-and-blood’ wolf. In this article, I depart from the earlier opinions of Emily Gerard, Sabine Baring-Gould, and others, who explained the disappearance of the werewolf in folklore as following the extinction of the wolf. I argue instead that British literature is distinctive in representing a history of werewolf sightings in places in Britain where there were once wolves. I draw on the idea of absence, manifestations of the English eerie, and the turbulence of England in the era of late capitalism to illuminate my analysis of the representation of contemporary werewolf sightings.I
In literature, accounts of werewolfism or lycanthropy can be traced back to the epic of
Gilgamesh in approximately 2000 BC, whereas early fables warning of the wolf are exemplified by Aesop’s ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’ in 620-520 BC. Virgil’s Eclogues are thought to be the first account of voluntary werewolfism (around 42-39 BC). 1589, the year that saw the rise of werewolf trials in France, appears to have been the werewolf’s annusmirabilis.(A WELL DONE PUN)
Jean Grenier, the ‘Werewolf of Chalons’, and the Gandillon family, all of whom were executed as werewolves at this time, were murderers who had a taste for human flesh.The story of Grenier, a werewolf boy who supposedly fell upon and devoured several children, is recounted in Sabine Baring-Gould’s book on Werewolves (1865).
The boy claimed to be under the control of the ‘Lord of the Forest’ (THE GREEN MAN/CERNUNNOS/PAN) and was said to have appeared to his victims in wolf form.
Sorcery is the key to understanding such happenings, according to Baring Gould’s explanation of werewolfism. Such notions endured into the early twentieth century. Montague Summers (1880-1948) posited a shared history of witches and werewolves, shown through his use of demonologies in The Werewolf in Lore and Legend (1933). We are reminded that James I’s Daemonologie (1597), used widely in witchcraft trials, acknowledges the existence of ‘Men-Woolfes’.
British witchcraft trials focused on the witch’s metamorphosis into hare or cat, paralleling the preoccupation with shape shifting in European werewolf trials.Summers perpetuates this association between witches and werewolves in the twentieth century by documenting the historical sources and the authorities on shape shifting witches in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland and by appending material on ‘witch ointments’ to his study of the werewolf.
Sabine Baring-Gould (1834-1924) was a Vicar in the Church of England in Devon, an archaeologist, folklorist, historian and a prolific author. Baring-Gould was also a bit eccentric. He reputedly taught classes with a pet bat on his shoulder. (SNIPE OF HOUSE SLITHERN HOGWARTS) He is best known for writing the hymn 'Onward Christian Soldiers'.
This book is one of the most cited references about werewolves. The Book of the Were-Wolf takes a rationalistic approach to the subject.
The book starts off with a straightforward academic review of the literature of shape-shifting; however, starting with Chapter XI, the narrative takes a strange turn into sensationalistic 'true crime' case-studies of cannibals, grave desecrators, and blood fetishists, which have a tenuous connection with lycanthropy. This includes an extended treatment of the case of Giles de Rais, the notorious associate of Joan of Arc, who was convicted and executed for necrosadistic crimes.Margaret Murray had a controversial theory about this subject. (SO DID ALEISTER CROWLEY, OF COURSE)
Nevertheless, the first ten chapters of this book constitute an essential work on the subject of werewolves. This etext was scanned at sacred-texts.
Why we should welcome the return of ‘Old Stinker’, the English werewolf
Over the last few months there has been something of a folk panic in Yorkshire, northern England, following reported sightings of an eight-foot werewolf with a very human face.
The werewolf “Old Stinker”, also known as “The Beast of Barmston Drain” is not a recent phenomenon – it was first reported in the 18th century. But these sightings – concentrated around the town of Hull – are especially intriguing considering that English folklore is rather barren of werewolf stories. Most wolves were extirpated from England under the Anglo-Saxon kings and so ceased to be an object of dread to the people (though wolves did in fact survive in the UK up until the 1500s). So what could be behind these new werewolf sightings?
In literature, accounts of lycanthropy – humans transforming into werewolves – can be traced back to the epic of Gilgamesh in 2100BC, whereas wolf fables begin with Aesop’s The Boy Who Cried Wolf, which was written at some point between 620 and 520 BC. Voluntary lycanthropy does appear from time to time – Virgil’s Eclogues are thought to be the first such account (42-39 BC), but becoming a werewolf is more commonly seen as “a curse” or a sign of bestiality, or at worst of cannibalism.
A werewolf devouring a woman. From a XIX c. engraving. Mansell Collection, London.
Most people have heard of witchcraft trials but werewolf trials are less well known – and those who were executed in werewolf trials in 16th and 17th-century France were believed to have a taste for human flesh. But these cannibalistic fears died down with the rise of psychoanalysis in the 19th century, when lycanthropy came to more commonly represent the “beast within” or everything animal that we have repressed in terms of our human nature.
History, then, provides us with two possible answers as to why people might think they’ve spotted werewolves in the English countryside. The first is a fear of violence, manifesting in anxieties around cannibalism. The second is a return of the repressed (perhaps the population of Hull are having a particularly Freudian spell?).
Needless to say, I cannot support these theories. I would argue instead that the answer lies in our cultural understanding of the werewolf and its connection to our native wolves. By reconsidering these primal links, we can begin to understand why people think they see werewolves – and this is pertinent to the appearance of Old Stinker himself. Were(wolves)
It is important to consider the werewolf as the spectre brother or shadow self of the wolf and to perceive the history of lycanthropy as being inextricably bound up with humankind’s treatment of wolves. For example, the case of Peter Stumpf, who was executed in Germany for being a werewolf in 1589, gained much noteriety in 16th-century Britain. It is notable that this interest corresponds with the extinction of the wolf in England in the 1500s.
Back to today. In 2015 the Open Graves, Open Minds project hosted the first international conference on werewolves at the University of Hertfordshire. This research drew attention to attempts to rewild the wolf in the UK and scholars began to question what would happen if wolves returned to our forests, as was prominent in associated media reports.
Our collaborations with the UK Wolf Trust generated further discussions around the possibility of rewilding large species in Britain including wolves and lynx. It is in this climate that new sightings of the Hull werewolf had begun to appear.
Who wants to re-wolf Britain? Nadezda Murmakova/Shutterstock
In July of this year newspapers reported that Old Stinker was terrorising women with his human face and very, very, bad breath (hence his name). The two most recent sightings were reported on in August: “Woman met eight-foot werewolf with human face” proclaimed the Metro newspaper. A full-scale werewolf hunt ensued after Old Stinker was spotted prowling an industrial estate. The werewolf had apparently eaten a German Shepherd dog and was seen leaping over fences like a modern day Spring-Heeled Jack (the folk devil that plagued Victorian London). Wolf guilt
Importantly, Old Stinker supposedly inhabits a landscape that is thought to have seen some of the last UK wolves. So the emergence of the Hull werewolf can reopen debates about the spectre werewolf’s relationship to the flesh and blood wolf. This coincides with a phase of severe environmental damage. It has not taken the form of sudden catastrophe, but rather a slow grinding away of species. The result is a landscape constituted more actively by what is missing than by what is present, a “spectred”, rather than “a sceptered isle”. He represents not only a nation’s belief in him as a supernatural shapeshifter, but its collective guilt at the extinction of an entire indigenous species of wolf.
Far from dismissing the myth, my instincts are to embrace it and see it as a response to our cultural memory around what humans did to wolves.
The Old Stinker story tells us that belief in werewolves lives on beyond the actual lives of the wolves that were thought to inspire them. Rather than being dismissed as a rather fishy tale, Old Stinker can activate the wolf warrior in all of us and allow us to lament the last wolves that ran free in English forests. Far from being a curse, he is a gift: he can initiate rewilding debates and redeem the big bad wolf that filled our childhood nightmares, reminding us that it is often humans, not wolves or the supernatural, that we should be afraid of.
October 30, 2016
Author
Sam George Senior Lecturer in Literature, University of Hertfordshire Disclosure statement Sam George does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
‘Truth’ behind those sightings of Hull’s Beast of Barmston Drain werewolf An American Werewolf in Hull? Published: Friday 21 October 2016
Collective guilt about wiping out the native wolf population could be cause behind the sightings of “Old Stinker” in Hull, according to an academic.
Media round the world picked up on claims that a “half-man, half-dog” creature had been spotted stalking the banks of the city’s Barmston Drain earlier this year. Barmston Drain in Hull: Could this be the home of 'Old Stinker'?
There were lurid reports of the “tall and hairy” beast being seen gobbling a German Shepherd and then jumping 8ft over a fence - with its prey still in its jaws.
The creature, dubbed the “Beast of Barmston Drain” was connected by folklorists to the legend of “Old Stinker”, a werewolf said to stalk the Yorkshire Wolds.
Further sightings followed - including in August when a woman in a car with friends claimed she saw a beast with a human head started walking towards them on two legs on a road through the East Yorkshire village of Halsham.
The location of the sightings, close to the East Yorkshire Wolds, which were once home to wolves, could be significant, according to Dr Sam George, a gothic scholar and literary expert.
Dr George, who was behind the UK’s first International Werewolf Conference at the University of Hertfordshire last year, said: “I often get asked what causes belief in werewolfism, but what is most pertinent and magical about this latest folk panic is that “‘Old Stinker’ is thought to inhabit a landscape which saw some of the last wolves in England.
“I argue that he represents, not our belief in him as a supernatural shapeshifter, but our collective guilt at the extinction of an entire indigenous species.”
Far from dismissing it as a figment of the imagination, Dr George says it’s important to explore people’s fears and look for deeper meanings, adding: “My instincts are to embrace it and see it as a manifestation of our cultural memory around wolves.
“‘Old Stinker’ is a gift; he can reawaken the memory of what humans did to wolves, draw attention to re-wilding debates, and redeem the big bad wolf that filled our childhood nightmares, reminding us that it is often humans, not wolves or the supernatural, that we should be afraid of.”
The sightings led to a freedom of information request to Hull Council which confirmed it had no policy on werewolves and rock legend Alice Cooper to ask: “So there are suddenly several reports of a werewolf like creature near a small town in the UK. Do you think it could be real?” NEWS 16/05/2016
8ft Tall Werewolf ‘Old Stinker’ Prowling In Hull Industrial Estate
An 8ft tall hairy creature which can stand upright like a man is said to be prowling a derelict industrial area just outside of Hull.
One eye-witness claims to have seen the “half-man, half-dog” lurking around the banks of Barmston Drain at Christmas and since then there have six further reported sightings
A woman told the Express: “It was stood upright one moment. The next it was down on all fours running like a dog. I was terrified. .A 'half-man half-wolf' beast is rumoured to be prowling an abandoned industrial estate just outside of Hull. Pictured is a still from the 1981 film An American Werewolf in London
“It bounded along on all fours, then stopped and reared up on its back legs, before running down the embankment towards the water.
“It vaulted 30ft over to the other side and vanished up the embankment and over a wall into some allotments.”
The sightings have been linked to the local legend of a werewolf called Old Stinker, described by author Charles Christian as “a great hairy beast with red eyes, who was so-called because he had bad breath.” ALAMY
The beast was allegedly spotted at Barmston Drain at Christmas
The legend was borne because that part of the country was once infested with wolves, Christian explains, pointing out that up until the 18th century there was still a bounty for anyone killing them.
“It was known for the wolves to dig up the corpses from graveyards. From that sprung the idea that they are supernatural beings, who took the form of werewolves,” he told the Hull Daily Mail.
Paranormal investigator Lee Brickely told Huffington Post UK: "It's a case I'm following closely, and it certainly raises many issues relating to the existence of werewolves in the UK.
"For the time being, I'd like to see more evidence and reports from locals."
Wolf bounties were offered during the 18th century (file picture)
Brickley, who is the author of UFOs, Werewolves & The Pig-Man, added: "As most people are aware, my home turf Cannock Chase is renowned for such encounters, and I'd most definitely like to investigate this case further. It appears, yet again, that there are many similarities within the sighting reports, and so I wouldn't rule this out as being a genuine paranormal encounter.
"Whether people believe werewolves are flesh and blood creatures or just beastly apparitions is another matter entirely."
But despite the 'evidence', Christian is sceptical that Old Stinker is back on the prowl.
Speaking to Huffington Post UK he said the animal is more likely to be “some feral creature living there that has got large and shaggy – like a big dog.” ANDREW MILLIGAN/PA WIRE
Could the animal be pet Husky that has been left to go feral?
Musing that it is likely to be a large breed that has been let go by owners who can no longer care for, Christian guesses it could be a Japanese Akita or a Husky.
“There has been a fashion for Huskies as pets and they grow enormous. The area where this animal is being sighted is semi-derelict and filled with abandoned warehouses and factories – an idea shelter for it," he said.
Christian, who is the author of A Travel Guide to Yorkshire's Wild Wolds added: “I wouldn’t advise stocking up silver bullets just yet. But I would advise against going out in the area by yourself without a big stick.”
Nonetheless, Hull historian Mike Covell has organised a nighttime “werewolf hunt” during the next full moon.
Covell said: "The idea is to visit the drain and walk along it armed with recording equipment. It has attracted a lot of interest and although people are taking it with a pinch of salt, they are fascinated by the reports."
He might want to keep Christian’s advice in mind. Just in case.
Reading the werewolf in the Canadian “wilderness” Kaja Franck Ginger Snaps (2000) has been recognised as an exemplary example of feminist horror, yet the sequels have received little attention. The final film in the trilogy, Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning (2004), answers the concerns regarding the ending of the first film – Brigitte kills her sister Ginger, the werewolf of the title − whilst drawing on earlier Gothic traditions. Set in the nineteenth century, the two sisters are trapped in an isolated fort surrounded by frozen forest and attacked by werewolves. This setting echoes another Canadian werewolf narrative, Henry Beaugrand’s ‘The Werwolves' (1898). Beaugrand’s story opens with a group of hunters, woodsmen and militia spending the Christmas period in Fort Richelieu, Quebec. Surrounded by forests, the fort acts a point of civilisation for these frontiersmen. This location evokes North American fears, and the representation of the wooded wilderness within American Gothic literature as full of wild beasts and wild men that surrounded European-American settlements. Beaugrand collapse the ‘wild beasts’ and ‘wild men’ into one hybrid monster: his werewolves are indigenous people. ‘The Werwolves’ reflects racist and colonial attitudes towards the indigenous population. Moreover, the central werewolf of Beaugrand’s narrative is also female. Using an ecoGothic approach, this paper argues that Ginger Snaps Back challenges the racist and sexist elements of Beaugrand’s earlier text and, in doing so, reacts to the idea that the wilderness is a threatening space. Though the gender of the werewolf remains the same in the film, the werewolf is white. This, and the depiction of the white inhabitants of the fort, uncovers the truth that, rather than being a symbol of civilisation battling against barbarism, the fort symbolises the fear and hatred towards the people and natural world that European settlers believed they found in North America.
WE ARE ALL BETA TESTERS FOR BIG PHARMA
New study explores prevalence of drug promotions in primary care practices
Steve Woloshin, MD. Credit: The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
According to a new Dartmouth study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, pharmaceutical companies' promotional access to outpatient practices that deliver primary care in the U.S. is substantial, especially in smaller practices, those outside of healthcare systems, and those without academic affiliation, possibly impacting prescribing quality and cost.
While direct-to-consumer advertising has been the fastest growing segment of pharmaceutical marketing in the U.S. in recent years, drug companies actually spend more (a total of $18.5 billion in 2016) on promoting their products directly to physicians—through clinician office visits known as "detailing" and free drug samples known as "sample closets."
Detailing and free samples have been shown to affect prescribing quality and costs, often by promoting new and expensive brand name drugs over equally effective, older, and less expensive options.
To help determine the widespread prevalence of detailing and sample closets, the researchers surveyed a national sample of U.S. outpatient practices delivering primary care services and with at least three physicians between June 2017 and August 2108. They compared visit frequency and the presence of sample closets overall (across 2,190 practices), and by ownership, practice size, geographic location, and academic affiliation.
Ownership characteristics were organized into the following categories: independent multi-physician practices (with at least three primary care physicians), medical groups (with at least one multi-physician practice), simple systems (those with at least one multi-physician practice and at least one hospital), and complex systems (those with multiple simple systems).
The researchers found that weekly detailing was more common in independent multi-physician practices than in those who were part of complex systems (60 percent versus 39 percent), smaller practices with less than 10 doctors vs. those with more than 20 physicians (55 vs. 27 percent), non-academic-affiliated practices vs. those with academic affiliations (56 percent vs. 32 percent), and in those practices located in the Southern region of the country. A very similar pattern was seen for the presence of free sample closets.
"These findings are consistent with a study of broader physician populations from 2007 and likely reflect limited infrastructure in these practices to impose access restrictions or to provide independent drug information," explains lead author Steven Woloshin, MD, MS, a general internist and a professor of medicine and community and family medicine at Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine, and of The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice.
"Although our findings are insufficient to fully explain the higher level of promotional access in the South, it's noteworthy that healthcare spending is also higher in the South than in other regions of the U.S.," he says.
While factors such as industry consolidation and stricter policies among hospitals and medical centers have limited some of the promotional access previously afforded to pharmaceutical companies, these activities still have a substantial effect on prescribing quality and expenditures.
"If reducing industry influence on prescribing is a priority, our findings indicate that further measures are needed, at least in practices delivering primary care, and particularly in smaller practices and those outside of health systems or academic settings," says Woloshin.
More information: Ashleigh C. King et al, A National Survey of the Frequency of Drug Company Detailing Visits and Free Sample Closets in Practices Delivering Primary Care, JAMA Internal Medicine (2020). DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2019.6770
Something far deadlier than the Wuhan virus lurks near you
THE FLU KILLS MORE NORTH AMERICANS EVERY YEAR THAN ANY OTHER PANDEMIC
by Liz Szabo
Credit: CC0 Public Domain
There's a deadly virus spreading from state to state. It preys on the most vulnerable, striking the sick and the old without mercy. In just the past few months, it has claimed the lives of at least 39 children.
The virus is influenza, and it poses a far greater threat to Americans than the coronavirus from China that has made headlines around the world.
"When we think about the relative danger of this new coronavirus and influenza, there's just no comparison," said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and health policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. "Coronavirus will be a blip on the horizon in comparison. The risk is trivial."
To be sure, the coronavirus outbreak, which originated last month in the Chinese city of Wuhan, should be taken seriously. The virus can cause pneumonia and is blamed for more than 800 illnesses and 26 deaths. British researchers estimate the virus has infected 4,000 people.
A second person in the U.S. who visited China has been diagnosed with the Wuhan virus, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. Public health workers are monitoring 63 additional patients from 22 states.
Influenza rarely gets this sort of attention, even though it kills more Americans each year than any other virus, said Dr. Peter Hotez, a professor of pediatrics, molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
Influenza has already sickened at least 13 million Americans this winter, hospitalizing 120,000 and killing 6,600, according to the CDC. And flu season hasn't even peaked. In a bad year, the flu kills up to 61,000 Americans.
Worldwide, the flu causes up to 5 million cases of severe illness worldwide and kills up to 650,000 people every year, according to the World Health Organization.
And yet, Americans aren't particularly concerned.
Less than half of adults got a flu shot last season, according to the CDC. Even among children, who can be especially vulnerable to respiratory illnesses, only 62% received the vaccine.
If Americans aren't afraid of the flu, perhaps that's because they are inured to yearly warnings. For them, the flu is old news. Yet viruses named after foreign places—such as Ebola, Zika and Wuhan—inspire terror.
"Familiarity breeds indifference," Schaffner said. "Because it's new, it's mysterious and comes from an exotic place, the coronavirus creates anxiety."
Some doctors joke that the flu needs to be rebranded.
"We should rename influenza; call it XZ-47 virus, or something scarier," said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Measles in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed 5,000 people in the past year—more than twice as many as Ebola. Yet UNICEF officials have noted that the measles, which many Americans no longer fear, has gotten little attention. Nearly all the measles victims were children under 5.
Some people may worry less about the flu because there's a vaccine, whose protection has ranged from 19% to 60% in recent years. Simply having the choice about whether or not to receive a flu shot can give people an illusion of control, Schaffner said.
But people often feel powerless to fight novel viruses. The fact that an airplane passenger spread SARS to other passengers and flight crew made people feel especially vulnerable.
Because the Wuhan virus is new, humans have no antibodies against it. Doctors haven't had time to develop treatments or vaccines.
The big question, so far unknown, is just how easily the virus is transmitted from an infected person to others. The WHO this week opted not to declare the Wuhan outbreak an international health emergency. But officials warn the outbreak hasn't peaked. Each patient with the new coronavirus appears to be infecting about two other people.
By comparison, patients with SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, spread the infection to an average of two to four others. Each patient with measles—one of the most contagious viruses known to science—infects 12 to 18 unvaccinated people.
Health officials worry that the new coronavirus could resemble SARS—which appeared suddenly in China in 2002 and spread to 26 countries, sickening 8,000 people and killing 774, according to the WHO.
The U.S. dodged a bullet with SARS, Schaffner said. Only eight Americans became infected, and none died, according to the CDC. Yet SARS caused a global panic, leading people to shutter hotels, cancel flights and close businesses.
Coronaviruses can be unpredictable, said Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. While some patients never infect anyone else, people who are "super spreaders" can infect dozens of others.
At Seoul's Samsung Medical Center in 2015, a single emergency room patient infected 82 people—including patients, visitors and staff—with a coronavirus called MERS, or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. The hospital partly shut down to control the virus.
"This is one of the finest medical centers in the world, on par with the Cleveland Clinic, and they were brought to their knees," Osterholm said.
Yet MERS has never posed much a threat to the U.S.
Only two patients in the U.S. - health care providers who had worked in Saudi Arabia—have ever tested positive for the virus, according to the CDC. Both patients survived.
Hotez, who is working to develop vaccines against neglected diseases, said he worries about unvaccinated children. Most kids who die from the flu haven't been immunized against it, he said. And many were previously healthy.
"If you're worried about your health, get your flu vaccination," Hotez said. "It's not too late."
Handgun carrying by rural children as young as 12 indicates that firearm violence and injury-related prevention programs may need to be introduced early in a child’s life, researchers say. Credit: Pixabay
Roughly one-third of young males and 1 in 10 females in rural communities have carried a handgun, reports a new University of Washington study. And, the study found, many of those rural kids started carrying as early as the sixth grade.
"This is one of the first longitudinal studies of rural adolescent handgun carrying across multiple states in the U.S. It provides evidence that youth handgun carrying in these settings is not uncommon," said lead author Dr. Ali Rowhani-Rahbar, a UW associate professor of epidemiology and Co-Director of Firearm Injury & Policy Research Program at Harborview Injury Prevention & Research Center.
The study of rural communities across the country, published Jan. 24 in the Journal of Adolescent Health, also found the practice was associated with pro-handgun attitudes and with having friends who carry handguns.
Knowing that some kids as young as 12 report carrying a handgun indicates that firearm violence and injury-related prevention programs may need to be introduced early in a child's life, researchers say.
"Youth handgun carrying and firearm violence are often presented as an exclusively inner-city problem," said Dr. Rowhani-Rahbar, who is the Bartley Dobb Professor for the Study and Prevention of Violence in the UW School of Public Health. "However, that focus should not come at the cost of ignoring non-urban settings. Indeed, youth in some rural areas experience similar or even higher rates of handgun carrying and certain forms of interpersonal violence—for example, being attacked or threatened with a weapon—than their counterparts in urban areas."
Specifically, the researchers found:
In sixth grade, 11.5% of males and 2.8% of females had carried a handgun within the past year.
From the sixth grade to age 19, 33.7% of males and 9.6% of females reported carrying at least once during that time.
Of those who carried, 34% of males and 29.3% of females had carried a handgun for the first time in the sixth grade. However, of those who carried, a majority of both sexes carried a handgun only once over the seven years.
More kids who carried had friends who did the same. For instance, in the 10th grade, 63% of males who carried had a friend who carried. And of those young males who had not carried a handgun, only 6% had a friend who did. The same pattern was apparent for females.
A far higher percentage of kids who carried also endorsed pro-handgun norms. For instance, they were much more likely to view taking a handgun to school or work as "not very wrong" than their non-carrying peers.
The study of handgun carrying among rural youth is based on 2,002 kids who started answering survey questionnaires in the sixth grade when they lived in 12 rural communities in seven states. Participants took annual surveys over a seven-year period, 2005 to 2012, as part of the UW's Community Youth Development Study. That larger study is designed to evaluate the university's Communities That Care program, which helps communities take a broad approach to preventing youth problem behaviors.
The 12 communities included in the new study had been randomly selected to not implement the Communities That Care prevention program, which has been found to reduce a variety of risky behaviors among youth, including carrying a handgun.
"We looked at handgun questions only in the control communities, those that did not receive the risk prevention program," Dr. Rowhani-Rahbar explained. "This is because we did not want to measure the effect of the Communities That Care intervention in this study. We wanted to characterize the age at initiation, prevalence and patterns of handgun carrying in the absence of the intervention."
The dangers of young people's exposure to guns are well-documented—firearm injury is second only to vehicle crashes as a leading cause of death among U.S. kids, with 65% of those deaths resulting from a conflict with another young person. Carrying firearms is associated with adolescent bullying, physical fighting and assault. The researchers also point out that federal law prohibits people under age 18 from possessing a handgun.
This is just the first step toward studying health effects, Dr. Rowhani-Rahbar said. A lack of foundational information about youth handgun carrying in rural settings means studies of the causes and consequences of this behavior have also been missing. The team now plans to study these factors—risk of violence or injury among rural youth who carry a handgun compared to those who do not, for instance—in the near future.
More information: Ali Rowhani-Rahbar et al, Initiation Age, Cumulative Prevalence, and Longitudinal Patterns of Handgun Carrying Among Rural Adolescents: A Multistate Study, Journal of Adolescent Health (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2019.11.313
