Women's right to bear arms: Abusive relationship between intimate partner violence and firearm accessibility

Background: There are four types of intimate partner violence, recongized by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These include physical violence, sexual violence, threats of physical or sexual violence, psychological or emotional violence. These types of violence occur among individuals all of sexes, ages, race, and sexual orientation. Intimate partner violence represents an on-going and costly public health concern. Methods: Data were collected cross three semesters in 2012 using a 30 items online-delivered survey among undergradaute students in a introductory online health education course. Analysis: Descriptive statistics were conducted, along with ANOVA correlations to examine the relationships between demographic variables, past intimate partner violence experiences, and firearm accessibility. Results: Of the 787 respondents, 170 communicated accessiblity to firearm within or near their current home. Of the 170 respondents, a majority were females (68.8%), heterosexual (93.5%), covered by their parent's insurance (76.5%),and lived in an off-campus house or apartment (76.5%). Results indicated a strong positive relationship between single-non-dating females who have access to firearms and previous threated physical intimate partner violence (F=4.578 p=.011). In addition, women, regardless of relationship status were more likely to report gun accessiblity following attempted physical attack (F=4.143, p=.016) and threatened physical (F=4.174, p=.016). Discussion: Based on the results of this study, additional research is warranted in the area of fire arms accesiblity and ownership among females. Females with a history of intimate partner violence potentially pose a higher rate of gun ownership than women without a history of intimate parnter violence.