Citation

Anestis MD, Houtsma C. Suicide Life Threat. Behav. 2018; 48(2): 204-217.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, American Association of Suicidology, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/sltb.12346

PMID

28294383

Abstract

An extensive body of research has demonstrated an association between gun ownership and suicide that extends beyond the effects of a range of covariates. We aimed to expand on extant research by examining the extent to which gun ownership predicts statewide overall suicide rates beyond the effects of demographic, geographic, religious, psychopathological, and suicide-related variables. By extending the list of covariates utilized, considering those covariates simultaneously, and using more recent data, we sought to present a more stringent test. Gun ownership predicted statewide overall suicide rates, with the full model accounting for more than 92% of the variance in statewide suicide rates. The correlation between firearm suicide rates and the overall suicide rate was significantly stronger than the correlation between nonfirearm suicide rates and the overall suicide rate. These findings support the notion that access to and familiarity with firearms serves as a robust risk factor for suicide. Therefore, means safety efforts aimed at reducing accessibility and increasing safe storage of firearms would likely have a dramatic impact on statewide overall suicide rates.

© 2017 The American Association of Suicidology.

Language: en