Minority Pre-doctoral Fellowship Program

University Of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Because a home free of hazards is essential to children's safety and well being, it is important to understand determinants of firearm ownership and storage practices among parents. Little is known about the processes involved in couples' decision-making about household firearms; this has limited our ability to effectively promote safe firearm storage. The proposed study will examine this issue by uncovering processes that underlie married couples' decision-making about firearm ownership and storage. Drawing on behavioral science theory, a questionnaire will be developed to measure attitudes and beliefs about firearms, and household management of firearms. Data will be collected through telephone interviews with male and female partners in married couples (300 individuals, 150 couples), who have children aged 18 or younger. Couples will be identified from a national random sample. Aims are to: (1) identify the degree to which partners share responsibility for decision-making and duties related to firearms, and determine the relationship between the level of shared decision-making and household firearm ownership and storage practices; and (2) examine the degree to which partners' knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and preferences about firearms in the household are similar to one another, and identify whether women are less supportive of firearms than their partners.