Abstract
Objective: We investigated whether high school students reporting easy access to guns were more likely to die prematurely from either suicide, homicide, or an accidental death. Method: Based upon the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we contrasted those reporting easy access to guns, n = 5,185, 25%, with the remaining 75% (n = 15,589) on various sociodemographic characteristics, behaviors, and premature mortalities. Results: We found higher rates of suicides, homicides, and accidental deaths among those reporting easy access to guns at Wave 1 or Wave 2. This was only true for males. Those with easy access to guns were more likely to share common sociodemographic characteristics, came from two-parent homes where children had strong and close relationships with parents, where children were more likely to get into fights, do delinquent misdeeds, and engage in other risk-taking behaviors such as increased drinking, drug use, and riding motorcycles. Logistic regression analysis showed easy access to guns remained a significant predictor of premature mortalities when sex, family income differences, risk-taking, and delinquency were used as covariates. Conclusions: This study supports previous research and carves out new ground showing easy access to guns acts synergistically with other lifestyle differences to diminish youth life chances.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 277-291 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior |
Volume | 50 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 1 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2019 The American Association of Suicidology
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Clinical Psychology
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Psychiatry and Mental health