Psychological Reports最新文献

This paper situates current social psychological research on the symbolic use of firearms (e.g., as a source of personal safety) in broader historical context to motivate a more thorough consideration of collective power motives. Historically, firearms have been used to dominate racial outgroup members (e.g., White Americans use of firearms and firearm laws to dispossess indigenous people of land or control free and enslaved Black people) or, at times, attempt to resist group-based oppression (e.g., Black Americans use of firearms to struggle against White Jim Crow terrorism). Given most gun owners report self-protection as their primary reason for firearm ownership and yet anti-Black attitudes are still a consistently important predictor of firearm ownership among dominant group members (e.g., White Americans), this paper examines how guns may function as a perceived source of personal safety and collective power. I center the persistent role of White supremacy and anti-Blackness in original U.S. firearm psychology and policy to illuminate the interrelatedness of personal safety and collective power perceptions, and how perceived threats to in-group power may motivate the use of guns and policies that selectively regulate gun access to mitigate associated safety concerns. Seeking to nudge social psychology to more thoroughly examine firearms' potential function as a symbolic source of collective power, I end by discussing how considering collective power can help us better understand how historically dominant and historically marginalized groups view firearms today while also illuminating some barriers to the pursuit of gun safety for all.

Access to firearms among individuals with mental health problems has been a source of protracted debate among policymakers, the media, and the public, writ large. At the center of this controversy are questions about the nature and consequences of gun access in the context of mental illness. The lack of substantial empirical evidence, due in part to limited access to quality data, plays a significant role in perpetuating ongoing debate. To address this problem, this study uses data from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication to evaluate the relative importance of several clinical, cultural, and criminological factors in explaining gun access and carrying among adults with and without mental illnesses. Multivariate analyses reveal that, whereas past year disorder (of any type or severity) and other clinical characteristics were unrelated to firearm access, several cultural factors such as childhood rurality (e.g., OR_{rural vs. urban}: 3.59; 95% CI: 2.52, 5.12) and the criminological experience of early intimate partner violence (e.g., OR_{victim only vs. noexp}: 1.84; 95% CI: 1.50, 2.26) were. None were predictive of carrying. Further, none of the relationships observed were conditioned on any of the clinical characteristics. These results indicate that people with mental illnesses likely own and carry guns for the same reasons and in the same contexts as others. Additional updated and quality data is needed to further explore these issues; however, these finding suggest that suicide and violence prevention efforts targeting people with mental illnesses need to be sensitive to the cultural and personal significance of guns.

Guns and gun violence have become a widely discussed and hotly debated concern across the United States. With gun violence on the rise and mass shootings provoking powerful emotional outrage, the question often rests with what can or should be done to rectify these societal issues. This paper examines the attitudes of guns expressed through two qualitative interviews of gun owners in the United States. The paper observes many of the same outrage amongst these gun owners of Americans with seemingly little to show in the way of public policy progress for protecting citizens. Still, differences persist in what should be or can be done. The paper recommends more expansive study on this critical group of citizens involved in future United States gun safety and policy debate.

Background: Adolescents' possession of guns was a matter of concern even before the pandemic. It is pertinent to examine whether students continued possessing guns after schools reopened, and if so, identify factors that might have been associated with such behaviors. Towards this end, the present study examined the relationship between highschool students' experiences and their propensity to possess guns. Methods: This used responses from multiple nationally representative cross-sectional surveys of high school students from the 2019 and 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) and the 2021 Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences Survey (ABES). Gun possession within the past year was the main outcome of interest. Experiences of violence, assault, injury, and other adverse experiences were the independent variables. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions, adjusting for sample weights, were performed using SAS. Results: Out of a total of more than 25,000 and 38,000 valid responses, respectively in 2019 and 2021 to the question on gun possession, 4.7% and 4.2% reported carrying a gun at least once within the past year. Experiences of sexual violence, involvement in physical fight, perceived lack of safety, and being threatened/injured by weapons, were associated with higher adjusted odds of guns possession among males and females. Among ABES 2021 respondents (more than 7500), those who witnessed violence in the neighborhood were more likely to possess guns. This association was significant among males, whereas parents being informed about whereabouts was significant for females. Conclusion: This study shows that adverse experiences were associated with a higher odds of guns possession among female and male highschool students. Witnessing violent attack on someone in the neighborhood emerged as a risk factor for males. This suggests that social determinants of health as well as adverse experiences are associated with gun possession among high-school students.

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.

Firearm injury is a major yet understudied public health issue in the U.S. This qualitative study explored firearm retailers' perspectives to inform messaging and communication approaches to promote firearm safety among the gun owning population. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 retailers at a single gun shop in Texas. Thematic analysis identified key themes related to (1) audience segmentation, (2) appropriate use of language, and (3) trusted messengers and modalities for the communication of firearm safety information. This formative work provides practical insights to optimize public health messaging in this arena and ultimately reduce firearm injuries. Overall, this study provides valuable insights to guide the development and implementation of evidence-based, social marketing efforts aiming to promote firearm safety across various gun-owning audiences.

Gun violence is considered a national epidemic in the United States. In 2020, approximately 45,000 people were killed due to firearm-related injuries in the United States alone. However, research has struggled to identify a comprehensive list of risk factors associated with gun violence. One such risk factor could be threatened masculinity. This study aims to examine the effect of threatened masculinity on gun violence. As such a 2 (intervention x 3 (time) mixed design will be used. Each participant will be given a baseline assessment of their masculinity, using the Masculinity Contingency Scale. Using a variation of the hot sauce paradigm, participants will be asked to answer the Heinz Dilemma, and told that another participant will read their response, and then give the first participant an audio recording about what they think of their response. At this point, participants will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions. They will either have their masculinity threatened or be assigned to a control group. Following this, participants will be asked to play a game involving an online voodoo doll where they will be asked to pretend the voodoo doll is the person from the recording, and to shoot the voodoo doll. It is predicted that those in the experimental group will shoot the voodoo doll more than the control group.

There is a growing need for clear and definitive guidelines to prevent firearm violence in communities across the United States. Recommendations explore the utility and feasibility of universal screenings and recommend utilizing universal screening due to a lack of a clear risk to it. Providers should also work to create risk reduction plans with patients as well. Furthermore, recommendations for mental health care, counseling, and bystander training are made for institutions and their providers.

Firearms are a leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults in the United States. Early exposure to violence, as a victim or witness, is associated with increased risk of firearm-related experiences, including carrying and threatening others with a gun. These experiences, in turn, increase the risk of both fatal and non-fatal firearm injuries. Using an ethnically diverse sample of emerging adults, we build on prior research by examining the link between early violence exposure at multiple contexts of the social-ecological model and multiple firearm-related experiences (i.e., firearm-threatening victimization, firearm-threatening perpetration, and firearm carriage). We analyzed data from a 10-year longitudinal study of 1042 youth in the Southern United States. Experiencing childhood physical abuse was associated with both firearm-threatening victimization and perpetration in emerging adulthood. Additionally, exposure to neighborhood and interparental violence were linked to threatening others with firearms and carrying firearms, respectively. Counter to expectations, bullying victimization did not emerge as a predictor of any firearm-related experiences. Findings highlight the importance of cross-cutting violence prevention efforts to prevent high-risk firearm-related behaviors among emerging adults. Programs for children and adolescents that address these types of violence exposure should highlight coping skills and sources of positive social support to bolster protective factors against firearm-related outcomes.