Citation

Ziminski D, Harmon-Darrow C, Westley-Henson K, Ross S. Psychol. Rep. 2024; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/00332941241269500

PMID

39096345

Abstract

A growing body of research has documented how gun violence can affect mental and physical health outcomes among adults. Likewise, the literature is also beginning to reveal negative psychological effects related to distress and hypervigilance and sociological implications around diminished community engagement and economic opportunity. However, there remains a need to fully explore the role of fear related to the experience of gun violence. Through a qualitative inquiry consisting of community resident focus groups and community leader interviews, this study examined how participants' perceptions of fear related to their exposures to and experiences of gun violence. The findings highlight the pervasive emotional experience of existing in a fearful, distressed, and/or anxious state within certain communities, and how civic disengagement, neighborhood disconnection, and economic disenfranchisement exist in communities that disproportionately experience violence.

Language: en

Keywords

qualitative research; Gun violence; community violence; civic disengagement; economic disenfranchisement; fear of violence; neighborhood disconnection