Show simple item record

dc.contributor.authorHill, Terrence D
dc.contributor.authorDowd-Arrow, Benjamin
dc.contributor.authorDavis, Andrew P
dc.contributor.authorBurdette, Amy M
dc.date.accessioned2020-10-31T03:13:02Z
dc.date.available2020-10-31T03:13:02Z
dc.date.issued2020-01-07
dc.identifier.citationHill, T. D., Dowd-Arrow, B., Davis, A. P., & Burdette, A. M. (2020). Happiness is a warm gun? Gun ownership and happiness in the United States (1973–2018). SSM-Population Health, 10, 100536.en_US
dc.identifier.issn2352-8273
dc.identifier.pmid31956693
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.ssmph.2020.100536
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10150/648071
dc.description.abstractAlthough there is no empirical evidence linking gun ownership with happiness, speculation is widespread. In this paper, we assess the association between gun ownership and happiness. We use 27 years of national cross-sectional data from the General Social Survey (1973-2018) and logistic regression to model self-rated happiness as a function of gun ownership (n = 37,960). In bivariate and partially adjusted models, we observed that the odds of being very happy were higher for respondents who reported having a gun in their home. This association persisted with adjustments for age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, employment status, household income, financial satisfaction, financial change, number of children, religious attendance, political affiliation, urban residence, region of interview, and survey year. In our fully adjusted model, gun ownership was unrelated to happiness. The original association between gun ownership and happiness was entirely confounded by marital status. In other words, gun owners only appeared happier because they are more likely to be married, which increases happiness. In the first study of gun ownership and happiness, we found that people who own guns and people who do not own guns tend to exhibit similar levels of happiness. This general pattern was consistent across nearly three decades of national surveys, a wide range of subgroups, and different measures of happiness. Our analyses are important because they contribute to our understanding of the epidemiology of happiness. They also indirectly challenge theoretical perspectives and cultural narratives about how guns contribute to feelings of safety, power, and pleasure.en_US
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherELSEVIER SCI LTDen_US
dc.rights© 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).en_US
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/en_US
dc.subjectGunsen_US
dc.subjectHappinessen_US
dc.subjectMarriageen_US
dc.subjectMental healthen_US
dc.subjectWell-beingen_US
dc.titleHappiness is a warm gun? Gun ownership and happiness in the United States (1973-2018)en_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
dc.contributor.departmentUniv Arizona, Sch Sociol, Social Sci Bldgen_US
dc.identifier.journalSSM-POPULATION HEALTHen_US
dc.description.noteOpen access journalen_US
dc.description.collectioninformationThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.en_US
dc.eprint.versionFinal published versionen_US
dc.source.journaltitleSSM - population health
dc.source.volume10
dc.source.beginpage100536
dc.source.endpage
refterms.dateFOA2020-10-31T03:13:16Z
dc.source.countryEngland


Files in this item

Thumbnail
Name:
1-s2.0-S2352827319304227-main.pdf
Size:
416.7Kb
Format:
PDF
Description:
Final Published Version

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record

© 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).