What’s New in Psychology?
Bullying May Be a Cause of Suicidal Behavior in Gay and Lesbian Black Youth
What’s New in Psychology?
Bullying May Be a Cause of Suicidal Behavior in Gay and Lesbian Black Youth
What’s New in Psychology?
Suicide and a Stay in Jail
What’s New in Psychology?
The Facts about Suicide During the December Holidays
What’s New in Psychology?
Intersectionality and Suicide Risk
What’s New in Psychology?
Genes that Raise the Risk of Suicide
What’s New in Psychology?
A Mental Health Treatment Program to Reduce Suicide Attempts
What’s New in Psychology?
Neighborhood Access to Alcohol and the Risk of Suicide
What’s New in Psychology?
If Red Flag Laws are Used, They May Help Prevent Gun Violence
What’s New in Psychology?
Military Service Members, Firearm Storage and Suicide Risk
What’s New in Psychology?
Unsecured Handguns and Suicide in the U.S.
What’s New in Psychology?
Undiagnosed Autism and Suicide
What’s New in Psychology?
Mental Health Assessments Need to Ask the Right Questions to Identify Suicidal Ideation with Gun Owners
What’s New in Psychology?
Gender-Affirming Care Reduces Depression in Transgender Youth
What’s New in Psychology?
A New Youth Suicide Prevention Program
What’s New in Psychology?
Jim Windell
What’s New in Psychology?
Suicide Rates and the Pandemic
What’s New in Psychology?
What Lessons Can Be Learned from the Australian Firearm Regulation?
If an individual owns a handgun, is he or she more at risk of suicide? If you are a therapist working with depressed clients or with those people who have other risk factors for violence, that question could have life or death consequences. Previous research on this question has either been conducted with small samples or over a limited period of time. The eight authors of this study, led by David M. Studdert, LL.B., Sc.D., planned and carried out a very ambitious study that looked at more than 26 million California residents over a 12-year period. The researchers, who were affiliated with Stanford University School of Law, Standard School of Medicine, the University of California at Davis, and other colleges, used survival analysis to estimate the relationship between handgun ownership and mortality, including death by suicide. The results were reported in the New England Journal of Medicine in early June, 2020.
Of the individuals followed in this study, 676,000 acquired one or more handguns during the study period, and 1.4 million died over the length of the study. Of those who died, almost 18,000 died by suicide and nearly 6,700 were suicides by firearm. The researchers found that rates of suicide by any method were higher among handgun owners. It turns out that the risk of suicide by firearm among handgun owners peaked immediately after the first acquisition of a gun, however, more than half of suicides by firearm among handgun owners occurred more than one year after they acquired a handgun.