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Social Stress, Legitimate Violence, and Gun Availability: Links to Weapon-Specific Homicides

NCJ Number
117837
Author(s)
A S Linsky; M A Straus; R Bachman-Prehn
Date Published
1988
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study examined stress theory and culture-of-violence theory in terms of their ability to explain State-to-State differences in the rate of specific types of homicides, with attention to their separate and joint effects on homicides committed by various weapons.
Abstract
The study used homicide data for the United States for 1980-84, with States being the units of analysis. Four unique State-by-State data sets were used: the Comparative Homicide File, the State Stress Index, the Legitimate Violence Index, and a measure of gun availability for each State. The weapons considered in the study are handguns, shoulder guns, and sharp and blunt instruments. Stressful life events (as measured by the State Stress Index) were positively related to homicide deaths for all four types of weapons, with the relationships all being highly significant. Motivations toward lethal violence engendered by stress are thus not dependent on a particular type of weapon. Approval of violence (as represented by the Legitimate Violence Index) was associated with deaths from handguns, long guns, and to a lesser degree with sharp instruments. The lack of association between the Legitimate Violence Index and homicides involving blunt instruments prompted reconsideration of the connection between approval of violence and homicide. Path analysis indicates that the effect of stress on gun homicides was direct and was not linked through the intervening variable of gun ownership. 5 footnotes, 1 figure, 4 tables, 28 references.

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