National Center for Veterans Studies, Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Department of Psychology, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
National Center for Veterans Studies, Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Department of Psychology, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
J Psychiatr Res. 2020 Dec;131:94-101. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.09.004. Epub 2020 Sep 8.
Firearm availability has traditionally been conceptualized as an environmental risk factor for suicide mortality. Firearm acquisition for the primary purpose of self-protection (i.e., protective gun ownership) is often motivated by exaggerated threat expectancies-a central component of anticipatory anxiety-but firearm acquisition may paradoxically reinforce or exacerbate threat expectancies and contribute to behavioral disinhibition. Firearm ownership may therefore confer increased risk for suicide mortality through biobehavioral mechanisms. The present study conducted an initial test of this hypothesis by examining associations among firearm ownership, intentions to acquire additional firearms, threat expectancies, and past-month suicidal thoughts and behaviors using data collected from a national sample of 6200 U.S. adults. Results indicated threat expectancies and rates of suicide-related behaviors were significantly elevated among protective gun owners and participants who intended to acquire a firearm within the next year as compared to non-gun owners and non-protective gun owners. Threat expectancies were associated with significantly increased risk for past-month suicide-related behavior. Results suggest that threat expectancies in particular, and anticipatory anxiety more generally, may be biobehavioral processes associated with the correlation of firearm ownership and increased suicide risk.
枪支的可获得性历来被视为自杀死亡率的环境风险因素。出于自我保护的主要目的（即保护性枪支拥有）而获得枪支往往是由于夸大的威胁预期所驱动的，这是预期焦虑的一个核心组成部分，但枪支的获得可能会矛盾地强化或加剧威胁预期，并导致行为抑制减少。因此，枪支的拥有可能通过生物行为机制增加自杀死亡率的风险。本研究通过检查枪支拥有、获取额外枪支的意图、威胁预期以及过去一个月的自杀想法和行为之间的关联，使用从美国 6200 名成年人的全国样本中收集的数据，初步检验了这一假设。结果表明，与非枪支拥有者和非保护性枪支拥有者相比，保护性枪支拥有者和计划在明年内获得枪支的参与者的威胁预期和与自杀相关的行为发生率显著升高。威胁预期与过去一个月与自杀相关的行为风险显著增加相关。结果表明，特别是威胁预期，更普遍地说，预期焦虑可能是与枪支拥有和自杀风险增加相关的生物行为过程。
