The goal of this project is to understand the culture and patterns of handgun carrying among rural adolescents. Long-term, this work will inform firearm injury prevention and safety promotion efforts. This is led by Dr. Ali Rowhani-Rahbar from University of Washington and was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $1,432,559 funded by CDC/HHS (R01CE003299).
WSU is leading one part of this effort by collecting data from rural Washington State youth in what’s called the Youth Experiences in Rural Washington: Research on Firearm Safety project. This project is a mixed methods study collecting qualitative (focus group or interview) and quantitative (survey) data from 93 rural youth across Washington State. We used a community-based participatory research process, engaging WSU Extension 4-H Youth Development as community partners in each step from the grant proposal through dissemination of findings.
WSU Extension faculty and staff partners include Dr. Ashley Hall, Dr. Gary Varrella, Toni Gwin, and Linda McLean. We appreciate the support of the WSU 4-H Youth Development program.
Project Updates
News
August 2024
Dr. Weybright and colleagues have published a manuscript titled Conceptualization of Firearm-Related Terms among Rural Adolescents: Definitions Matter in Youth & Society. Find article here. A related research brief is available in the project updates listed above.
July 2024
Dr. Weybright and colleague Dr. Ashley Hall have received a grant from the Grandmothers Against Gun Violence Foundation to continue and expand project work by speaking with the parents of youth who participated in our study. See more information about this foundation here: https://www.foundationgrandmothersagainstgunviolence.org/.
January 2024
Dr. Weybright and colleagues have published a manuscript titled Strategies for recruiting adolescents in rural areas in firearm injury research in Injury Prevention. Find article here. A related research brief is available in the project updates listed above.
November 2023
Dr. Weybright and colleagues from WSU Extension and University of Washington gave a presentation titled Handgun experiences and behaviors among rural adolescents: A convergent mixed methods study at the 2023 National Research Conference for the Prevention of Firearm-related Harms.
April 2023
February 2023
Gavin Mina and Rittick Nandy, both undergraduate students at Washington State University, co-presented a poster titled Handgun Carrying Behaviors Among rural Adolescents: Implications for Prevention at the 2023 Prevention Science Graduate Student Organization poster session. Gavin and Rittick both graduated in May, 2023.
November 2022
Dr. Weybright and colleagues from Extension (Hernandez Hall, Varrella) as well as University of Washington (Rowhani-Rahbar) presented a poster on rural adolescents definition of firearm-related terms at the inaugural 2022 National Research Conference on Firearm Injury Prevention in Washington, DC.
Publications
Publications from the broader project are listed below.
- Weybright, E. H., Hall, A., Willoughby, J., Dalve, K., *Schleimer, J., Ellyson, A., Watters, C., Gause, E., Kuklinski, M., Varrella, G., & Rowhani-Rahbar, A. (2024). Conceptualization of firearm-related terms among rural adolescents: Definitions matter [Special Issue]. Youth & Society. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X241263968
- Weybright, E. H., Hall, A., Ellyson, A., Varrella, G., Kuklinski, M., Gause, E., *Schleimer, J., Dalve, K., & Rowhani-Rahbar, A. (2024). Strategies for recruiting adolescents in firearm injury research. Injury Prevention, 30, 246-250. http://doi.org/10.1136/ip-2023-045104
- Ellyson, A. M., Schleimer, J. P., Dalve, K., Gause, E., Weybright, E. H., Kuklinski, M. R., Oesterle, S., & Rowhani-Rahbar, A. (2023). The association of alcohol use and heavy drinking with subsequent handgun carrying among youth from rural areas. The Journal of Rural Health, Advance online publication.
- Rowhani-Rahbar, A., Oesterle, S., Gause, E. L., Kuklinski, M., Ellyson, A. M., Schleimer, J. P., Dalve, K., Weybright, E. H., Briney, J. S., & Hawkins, D. (2023). Effect of the Communities That Care prevention system on adolescent handgun carrying: A community randomized trial. JAMA Network Open, 6(4):e236699.
- Dalve, K., Ellyson, A. M., Gause, E., Lyons, V. H., Schleimer, J. P., Kuklinski, M. R., Oesterle, S., Briney, J. S., Weybright, E. H., Rowhani-Rahbar, A. (2023). School handgun carrying among youth growing up in rural communities. Journal of Adolescent Health, 72, 636-639.
- Ellyson, A., M., Gause, E., Lyons, V. H., Schleimer, J. P., Dalve, K., Kuklinski, M., Oesterle, S., Briney, J. S., Weybright, E. H., & Rowhani-Rahbar, A. (2023). The prevalence of bullying and physical violence and their association with handgun carrying trajectories among youth growing up in rural areas. Preventive Medicine, 167, 107416.
- Ellyson, A. M., Gause, E., Oesterle, S., Kuklinski, M., Briney, J. S., Weybright, E. H., Haggerty, K., Lyons, V., Schleimer, J. P., & Rowhani-Rahbar, A. (2022). Trajectories of handgun carrying in rural communities from early adolescence to young adulthood. JAMA Network Open, 5(4), e225127.