Firearm Ownership and Suicide Rates Among US Men and Women, 1981–2013

Objectives. To examine the relationship between state-level firearm ownership rates and gender-specific, age-adjusted firearm and total suicide rates across all 50 US states from 1981 to 2013. Methods. We used panel data for all 50 states that included annual overall and gender-specific suicide and...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of public health (1971) Vol. 106; no. 7; pp. 1316 - 1322
Main Authors: Siegel, Michael, Rothman, Emily F.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States American Public Health Association 01.07.2016
Subjects:
AJPH Research
Clustering
Epidemiology
Female
Females
Firearm laws & regulations
Firearms
Firearms - legislation & jurisprudence
Firearms - statistics & numerical data
Gender
Gender relations
Households
Humans
Injury/Emergency Care/Violence
Linear Models
Male
Males
Ownership
Panel data
Public health
Regression analysis
Sex Distribution
States
Studies
Suicide
Suicide - statistics & numerical data
Suicides & suicide attempts
United States
Variables
United States > US
ISSN:0090-0036, 1541-0048
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Objectives. To examine the relationship between state-level firearm ownership rates and gender-specific, age-adjusted firearm and total suicide rates across all 50 US states from 1981 to 2013. Methods. We used panel data for all 50 states that included annual overall and gender-specific suicide and firearm suicide rates and a proxy for state-level household firearm ownership. We analyzed data by using linear regression and generalized estimating equations to account for clustering. Results. State-level firearm ownership was associated with an increase in both male and female firearm-related suicide rates and with a decrease in nonfirearm-related suicide rates. Higher gun ownership was associated with higher suicide rates by any means among male, but not among female, persons. Conclusions. We found a strong relationship between state-level firearm ownership and firearm suicide rates among both genders, and a relationship between firearm ownership and suicides by any means among male, but not female, individuals. Policy implications. For male persons, policies that reduce firearm ownership will likely reduce suicides by all means and by firearms. For female persons, such policies will likely reduce suicides by firearms.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
content type line 23
Peer Reviewed
M. Siegel conceptualized the study, collected the data, and led the data analysis and writing. E. F. Rothman assisted with the study design, analytical plan, writing, and revisions.
CONTRIBUTORS
ISSN:0090-0036
1541-0048
DOI:10.2105/AJPH.2016.303182