| Firearm injury is a leading cause of death and injury among children and adolescents. Many firearm injuries, especially suicides and unintentional injuries, happen when a young person gains access to a firearm in the home environment. Therefore, reducing youth access to firearms by storing them unloaded and locked up is widely recommended. Interventions encouraging parents to adopt safe firearm storage practices have been mainly targeted to mothers, and have not demonstrated effectiveness; highlighting the need for a better understanding of the determinants of women's firearm storage behaviors. The Theory of Planned Behavior---a psychological theory positing that behavior is influenced by attitudes, subjective norms, perceptions of behavioral control, and behavioral intentions---was used to guide development of the conceptual model for this investigation.;The primary aims of this cross-sectional study were to: (1) examine attitudes, subjective norms, and perceptions of behavioral control relevant to keeping household firearms stored unloaded and locked up among women with children, and (2) assess the degree to which these factors were related to behavioral intentions and current firearm storage practices. Eligibility was restricted to married women with children (<19) who lived in the continental United States, and who had at least one firearm in the home. Two sampling frames were used, one a listed-household frame and the other a list-assisted random digit dial frame. Brief telephone interviews were conducted in 2004.;Forty-three percent of the respondents (n = 185, response rate = 49%) said there was an unlocked firearm in the home, whereas 7% reported having a firearm stored loaded. The majority reported favorable attitudes, supportive social norms from their husbands, and perceptions of a high degree of behavioral control toward keeping firearms stored safely. Interestingly, respondents had greater motivation for keeping firearms stored unloaded versus in a locked place. As hypothesized, all three psychosocial variables jointly explained a significant portion of the variance in behavioral intentions to keep firearms stored unloaded (R2 = 0.50), and in a locked place (R 2 = 0.69). Attitude was a stronger predictor of behavioral intentions than subjective norm or perceived behavioral control. Suggestions for future research and implications for practice are discussed. |
