Table 1.
Descriptive statistics for families with pre-kindergarten-aged children by firearm ownership and safety practices (n = 8,100)
| Do not own firearms (%) | Own firearms (%) | Own Firearms | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| ||||
| Locked (%) | Unlocked (%) | |||
| Family processes | ||||
| Spanked child in past week | 32.0 | 40.6a | 39.1 | 44.0 |
| Sensitive and responsive parenting (1–7) | 4.3 | 4.5a | 4.5 | 4.6b |
| Parenting stress (1–4) | 2.0 | 1.9a | 1.9 | 2.0 |
| Child always wears a helmet | 32.7 | 31.0 | 33.9 | 24.9b |
| Child always rides in car seat | 81.5 | 85.2a | 85.2 | 85.2 |
| Child always rides in back of car | 91.3 | 90.2 | 91.0 | 88.7 |
| Working smoke detectors in home | 87.9 | 89.6a | 90.0 | 88.8 |
| Maternal depression scale (1–4) | 1.5 | 1.4a | 1.4 | 1.4 |
| Neighborhood and state-level factors | ||||
| Urbanicity | ||||
| Rural area | 10.6 | 33.6a | 32.7 | 38.2 |
| Urban area, inside an urbanized area | 10.6 | 18.5a | 17.9 | 20.1 |
| Urban area, inside an urban cluster | 78.8 | 47.9a | 50.5 | 41.8 |
| Region | ||||
| Northeast | 17.7 | 10.2a | 11.9 | 6.6b |
| South | 35.7 | 46.5a | 47.0 | 45.7 |
| Midwest | 22.1 | 24.0a | 22.0 | 28.3b |
| West | 24.5 | 19.3a | 19.2 | 19.5 |
| State mortality rate due to firearm-related injuries | 10.0 | 11.2a | 11.1 | 11.5b |
| State firearm ownership rates | 31.4 | 38.9a | 38.1 | 40.5b |
| Sociodemographic characteristics | ||||
| Maternal age at birth (years) | 27.2 | 28.3a | 28.0 | 28.9b |
| Maternal race/ethnicity | ||||
| Non-Hispanic White | 49.6 | 84.9a | 83.1 | 88.9b |
| Non-Hispanic Black | 16.7 | 4.4a | 5.4 | 2.1b |
| Hispanic White | 27.4 | 6.5a | 7.4 | 4.6b |
| Other race | 6.3 | 4.2a | 4.2 | 4.3 |
| Maternal education | ||||
| No high school diploma/GED | 23.9 | 9.1a | 9.9 | 7.4 |
| High school diploma/GED | 31.3 | 30.9 | 32.2 | 28.3b |
| Some college/associate’s degree | 22.6 | 32.5a | 31.2 | 34.9b |
| College or more | 22.2 | 27.6a | 26.8 | 29.4 |
| Family structure | ||||
| Married biological parents | 61.6 | 82.9a | 82.7 | 83.9 |
| Cohabiting/step parents | 15.4 | 7.4a | 7.3 | 7.0 |
| Single mother | 23.0 | 9.8a | 10.0 | 9.1 |
| Importance of religion in raising child | 4.0 | 4.1a | 4.1 | 4.1 |
| Household income | ||||
| $0–$25,000 | 34.7 | 13.6a | 12.8 | 14.8 |
| $25,001–$50,000 | 27.8 | 29.6 | 29.2 | 30.7 |
| $50,001–$100,000 | 23.5 | 39.1a | 38.9 | 39.4b |
| $100,001 or more | 14.0 | 17.8a | 19.0 | 15.1b |
| Proportion of sample | 78.2 | 21.9 | 15.0 | 6.9 |
| Sample n | 6,100 | 1,800 | 1,200 | 550 |
Frequencies were weighted. Unweighted Ns rounded to nearest 50th per NCES guidelines Chi2 tests for dummy variables, two-sample t tests for scales
a
Significantly different from non-firearm owners (p < 0.05),
b
significantly different from locked firearm owners (p < 0.05)