Citation
Gutierrez, Carmen M.; Prickett, Kate C.; Hollowell, Claire; Teiko, Pearl; & Caton, Lauren (2022). Type of Household Firearm Ownership and Firearm Suicide among Adolescents, 1976-2018. Preventive Medicine, 165(Pt. A), 107244.Abstract
After declining steadily for almost two decades, the rate of firearm suicide among adolescents (aged 15-19 years) has increased nearly every year since 2007. At the same time, overall levels of household firearm ownership have been declining. In this paper, we examined whether and how types of firearms in the homes of adolescents have changed over time, and the extent to which such changes are associated with trends in firearm suicides among adolescents. Our analyses focused on understanding these trends among Black and White male and female adolescents to better understand longstanding race-gender differences in firearm ownership and firearm suicide. With combined data from the General Social Survey (GSS) and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), the findings show that handgun ownership in Black and White households increased over the last four decades, while overall levels of firearm ownership declined. Increases in handgun ownership were predictive of increased firearm suicide rates among White adolescents, especially among males. We found no significant relationship between firearm suicide among Black adolescents and firearm ownership among Black households, regardless of gun type, which is potentially unsurprising given that firearm ownership is substantially lower in Black households compared to White households. Possibly reflecting race and gender differences in household gun ownership, our findings also show that rates of firearm suicide were lower for Black and female adolescents and highest for White male adolescents. Taken together, these findings provide new evidence on the relationship between trends in firearm ownership and adolescent firearm suicide and address important questions about the influence of race and gender for understanding firearm suicide among adolescents.URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2022.107244Reference Type
Journal ArticleYear Published
2022Journal Title
Preventive MedicineAuthor(s)
Gutierrez, Carmen M.Prickett, Kate C.
Hollowell, Claire
Teiko, Pearl
Caton, Lauren
Article Type
RegularData Set/Study
General Social Survey (GSS)National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)
Continent/Country
United States of AmericaState
NonspecificRace/Ethnicity
BlackWhite