U.S. teens report easy access to firearms, even when they have mental health problems that put them at an increased risk of suicide, according to a new study.
Overall, 41 percent of teens who reported being in a home with a firearm had easy access to it. Among teens with a history of mental illness or suicidal acts, researchers found that percentage was the same.
The American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics advise healthcare providers to talk about firearm safe STORAGE
with parents - especially those with at-risk youths at home."Our goal of this study was to find out if those recommendations were being implemented effectively in the community," said Dr. Joseph Simonetti, the study's lead author from the University of Washington School of Medicine's Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
Simonetti and his colleagues write in JAMA Psychiatry that suicide is the second leading cause of death for U.S. teens. Having a firearm in the home is one risk factor for suicide, they add.
Previous studies have found a lower suicide risk among residents of homes that practice safe storage of firearms.
For the new study, the authors used data collected between 2001 and 2004 from 10,123 U.S. teens between ages 13 and 18 years.
A third of the teens reported living in a home with a firearm. Of those, about 41 percent said they had easy access to that firearm and the ability to shoot it.
So 41% of 33% of 10123=1383.48 The title really should be "Some U.S. Teens Have Same Firearm Access Regardless Of Suicide Risk" without the addition of the word Some it leads the reader to believe it inclusive of all US Teens.
ReplyDelete"A third of the teens reported living in a home with a firearm. Of those, about 41 percent said they had easy access to that firearm and the ability to shoot it." what is the definition of easy access used in the study and also what does "the ability to shoot it." mean to the author are they including only teens who have some level of training on the firearm or is it simply being used as another term for access to the firearm.