Intent To Use Crisis Lines and Willingness To Engage in Firearm Means Safety Among Young Adult Firearm Owners and Non-Owners. (Board#18)

Abstract :

Introduction: In the United States, suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in adults (National Center for Health Statistics, 2023), with firearms contributing to nearly half of all annual suicide deaths (CDC, 2014). Lethal means safety has been shown to be an effective protective factor against suicide deaths (Khazem et al. 2015); however, prior literature suggests that firearm owners, particularly those who purchased a firearm for the purpose of self-protection, are more likely to engage in means safety to prevent suicide in others rather than for themselves (Butterworth and Anestis, 2019). Additionally, firearm owners who have unsafe storage habits have been shown to be more likely to disregard the impact firearm storage has on suicide risk (Anestis et al., 2018), placing them at a potentially increased risk of firearm suicide (Anestis et al., 2017). Crisis lines are an empirically supported method of preventing suicide that has been shown to decrease feelings of hopelessness, wish to die, and psychological pain (Gould et al., 2021). Self-reliance and honor ideology has been linked to decreased help-seeking willingness for suicidal ideation (Labouliere et al., 2015; Osterman & Brown, 2011); increased presence of such traits have been identified in firearm owners, especially within Southern or rural geographic regions in the U.S. (Brown, Imura, & Osterman, 2014; Grunewald et al., 2024), suggesting this population may be less open to help seeking behaviors that could aid in preventing suicide, such as calling or texting a crisis line.

Research

Aims: The present study aimed to characterize the relationship between intent to use crisis lines and willingness to engage in means safety among a sample of young adult firearm owners and non-owners. We hypothesized that (1) firearm owners would be less willing to contact a crisis line than non-owners, (2) firearm owners would be less willing to engage in firearm means safety compared to non-owners, and (3) that there would be a positive association between willingness to contact a crisis line and willingness to engage in firearm means safety.

Methods: A total of 637 young adult (M age = 20.13 years; SD = 3.21) undergraduate students from a university in the southern United States completed an online self-report survey during the Fall and Spring of 2022. Intent to use the crisis line was measured via two questions where participants rated from 0 to 100 how likely they would be to call or text a crisis line if 1) they were in a crisis or 2) if a family member or friend were ever in crisis. Willingness to engage in safe storage of a firearm for means safety was measured via two blocks of five-item questionnaires that assessed the likelihood of engaging in various forms of means safety (e.g., putting a lock on the gun or asking a friend or family member to keep the gun or ammunition) if 1) a healthcare professional recommended it to them or 2) if a healthcare professional recommended it to a family member or friend. Participants could respond using a likert scale ranging from 1 (“I would never do this”) to 4 (“I would definitely do this”). Lastly, firearm ownership was assessed through a dichotomous variable where participants had the option to report if they did or did not own a firearm. All study procedures received IRB approval from the university of interest.

Results: There were no significant differences in intent to use a crisis line based on firearm ownership status, F(4, 585) = 1.27, p = .280, ηp2 = .01. Though we did not have specific hypotheses regarding contacting the crisis line via text or call or for using the crisis line for oneself vs. for others, we report these results here. Both firearm and non-firearm owners preferred texting (M = 56.08, SE = 1.28) rather than calling (M = 53.26, SE = 1.44) crisis lines, F(1, 588) = 6.26, p = .013, ηp2 = .01. Participants, regardless of firearm ownership status, also were more likely to use a crisis line for others in crisis (M = 62.85, SE = 1.45), rather than for themselves (M = 46.49, SE = 1.31), F(1, 588) = 184.99, p < .001, ηp2 = .24.

Firearm ownership status was negatively correlated with willingness to engage in means safety for both oneself (r = -.29, p < .001) and for others (r = -.24, p < .001). Firearm owners were less likely to engage in means safety for both themselves (M = 12.24, SD = 4.39) and others (M = 14.55, SD = 4.59) in comparison to non-owners’ ratings for themselves (M = 15.32, SD = 4.09) and others (M = 16.96, SD = 3.77).

Willingness to engage in means safety for oneself was positively correlated with intent to use a crisis line for both oneself via call (r = .19, p < .001) or text (r = .13, p < .001), and for others via call (r = .09, p = .024) or text (r = .09, p = .033). Similarly, willingness to engage in means safety for others was positively correlated with intent to use a crisis line for oneself via call (r = .14, p < .001) or text (r = .13, p = .002), and for others via call (r = .10, p = .013) or text (r = .11, p = 006). In firearm owners, increased willingness to engage in safe storage habits for oneself was positively correlated with intent to call a crisis line for oneself (r = .26, p = .004) and others (r = .18, p = .040). Furthermore, firearm owners’ willingness to engage in safe storage habits for others was positively correlated with intent to call a crisis line for others (r = .20, p = .023). In non-firearm owners, willingness to engage in safe storage habits for themselves was correlated with intent to call (r = .19, p < .001) or text (r = .14, p = .003) the crisis line for themselves only, and similarly, non-owners’ willingness to engage in safe storage for others was correlated with intent to call (r = .13, p = .004) or text (r = .13, p = .005) the crisis line for themselves.

Conclusions: Contrary to our first hypothesis, firearm ownership did not appear to influence willingness to use a crisis line in our sample. However, consistent with our other hypotheses, firearm owners were less willing to engage in means safety, and there was a positive relationship between willingness to use the crisis line and willingness to engage in means safety habits across all groups. While further work is needed to evaluate these trends in young adult firearm owners, findings suggest a potential effect in which increased willingness to use one suicide prevention resource may also increase the likelihood of using other resources.