Victoria Arce
Research Mentor(s): Irene Carter
Mentor Department: Pediatric Surgery Section
Authors: Victoria Arce, Dorothy Stearns, Heather Hartman, Laura Seewald, Peter Ehrlich, Rebeccah Sokol, Daniel Lee, Philip Stallworth, Patrick Carter
Session: Session 3 (11:00am – 11:50am)
Presentation Type: Poster 39
Abstract
Firearms are the leading cause of death among children and teenagers. A study was undertaken to investigate what differences exist between parents of different age groups and non-parent firearm owners with respect to firearm storage practices and beliefs. A chi-square analysis was conducted on data from the 2023 National Firearms Attitudes and Behaviors Survey (NFABS) to assess if significant differences in firearm storage practices and beliefs among firearm owners. All parent firearm owners (P) were compared to non-parent firearm owners (NP), and parent firearm owner child age categories (0-5, 6-10, 11-14, 15-17) were compared to non-parent firearm owners. Non-parents were more likely to believe that having firearms in the home increases the risk of suicide compared to parent firearm owners (39.1% NP vs 26.2%P, p<0.001). In contrast, a higher proportion of parents conduct weekly audits of their firearms compared to non-parents (50.5% P vs. 34.9%NP, p<0.001). Additionally, non-parents had a greater percentage of firearms that were left unlocked (52.5% NP vs 40.6% P, p=0.003). Among parents, there was notable variability in storage methods based on child age categories, however parents with older children stored their firearms less securely overall. These findings suggest that parenting status may be associated with preferred firearm storage behaviors and that different intervention strategies may be necessary for parents compared to non-parents.
