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. 2000 Aug 12;321(7258):449.

Drug use and weapon carrying by young people

Study did not go far enough

John Macleod 1,2, Rhian Loudon 1,2, Matthew Hickman 1,2, Ali Judd 1,2
PMCID: PMC1127813  PMID: 10991596

Editor—Use of illegal drugs by young people seems to be increasing, and a rational and effective response must be guided by sound science. McKeganey and Norrie's paper on the association between use of illegal drugs and weapon carrying by young people in Scotland is based on three surveys in 20 Scottish schools.1 How these schools were selected and how representative they and the students surveyed are of schools and students in Scotland generally are not reported.

The paper describes an association between use of illegal drugs and weapon carrying, both measured by self report with an instrument developed by the study team. No details are given to allow assessment of the validity or reliability of this instrument. Use of illegal drugs is undefined but seems to relate to the number of different illegal substances ever used. Weapon carrying was defined in terms of lifetime, rather than recent, carriage. Thus these data could suggest that weapon carrying is high among students now, or that many students have carried a weapon at least once in their life, or that neither is the case.

The data suggest that students reporting lifetime weapon carriage are more likely also to report using more kinds of illegal drugs. This association could be an artefact generated through a common reporting tendency, it could be an example of confounding (drug use and weapon carrying sharing the same antecedents), or it could be causal (drug use leading to higher probability of carrying a weapon).

As corroboration of self report was not sought, reporting bias cannot be discounted. Both drug use and weapon carrying are likely to be associated with social disadvantage: in table 3 twice as many students from Lanarkshire schools reported having carried a weapon as did those from independent schools. Despite this the proportions presented in table 2 are not standardised for social position. Whether drug use preceded weapon carrying or vice versa and the temporal relation of both to numerous other potential confounders cannot be assessed since the study was cross sectional.

The authors acknowledge that their study does not clarify the causes of weapon carrying. We suggest that it provides little clarification of anything. Such a report, appearing in the General practice section of the BMJ and widely publicised in the popular media,2 may subliminally reinforce the image of young drug users as violent criminals. This is unlikely to encourage general practitioners to engage with drug users and is counterproductive in the context of recent advice both from the Department of Health and in the BMJ.3,4

Footnotes

Drs Macleod, Hickman, and Judd are funded by the Department of Health to review evidence on psychological and social consequences of drug use by young people.

References

  • 1.McKeganey N, Norrie J. Association between illegal drugs and weapon carrying in young people in Scotland: schools' survey. BMJ. 2000;320:982–984. doi: 10.1136/bmj.320.7240.982. . (8 April.) [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 2.Bosely S, Seenan G. Third of young Scots “carry weapons.” Guardian 2000: Apr 7.
  • 3.Department of Health. Drug misuse and dependence: guidelines on clinical management. London: Stationery Office; 1999. [Google Scholar]
  • 4.Keen J. Managing drug misuse in general practice. BMJ. 1999;318:1503–1504. doi: 10.1136/bmj.318.7197.1503. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
BMJ. 2000 Aug 12;321(7258):449.

Authors should have phrased questions differently

J Ellis Cameron-Perry 1

Editor—The research by McKeganey and Norrie is plagued by conceptual problems, which compromise its value.1-1 The authors asked participants “Have you ever carried a weapon in case you got into a fight?” and “If yes, what kind of weapon(s)?” Reporting on the data generated by their inquiry, McKeganey and Norrie remark that “It is far from clear why a substantial number of young people in Scotland feel the need to carry a weapon, and this needs further investigation.”

The reason why a substantial number of young people in Scotland feel the need to carry a weapon was proposed by McKeganey and Norrie themselves, in the question that they asked in their survey. Many young people in Scotland carry a weapon in case they get into a fight. Surely the survey would have yielded more interesting data about weapon carrying among young people if McKeganey and Norrie had asked respondents to offer up some reasons for their carrying weapons. The offending question, however, obviated this possibility and perhaps shows a bias on the part of the researchers concerning their beliefs about the cause(s) of weapon carrying by young people.

The second problem concerns the ambiguity of the word “fight,” which can refer to verbal confrontations, planned physical confrontations, anticipated physical confrontations, and fear of unprovoked physical assault. Indeed, even the phrase “fear of unprovoked physical assault” is rather broad since one may fear a foreseeable physical assault or have a general fear of victimisation.

The study prompts three thoughts. Firstly, the questions asked suggest that the only interesting kind of weapon carrying behaviour is the one associated with the young person's appreciation or perception of the possibility of getting into a fight. Secondly, it would have made more sense to provide respondents with the opportunity to explain why they carried weapons. Thirdly, the limitations intrinsic to the phrase “in case” precluded any opportunity to learn more from the respondents about the types of feelings and beliefs that may motivate a young person to carry weapons.

I offer one final observation. If I was a lad seeking to hinder a research project I would report that not only did I routinely take many different kinds of drugs but I regularly went about the town armed to the teeth.

References

  • 1-1.McKeganey N, Norrie J. Association between illegal drugs and weapon carrying in young people in Scotland: schools' survey. BMJ. 2000;320:982–984. doi: 10.1136/bmj.320.7240.982. . (8 April.) [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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