(PS4-89) Honor ideology and private firearm ownership in U.S. active-duty soldiers

Abstract Text: Active-duty military service members who die by suicide most commonly use their privately-owned firearm. To help prevent suicide in active-duty military, the Department of Defense (DoD) has explicitly detailed the creation of a culture of lethal means safety on and away from military installations as critical. These efforts will be informed by a growing body of research that links honor ideology to firearm ownership. Honor ideology is the belief that one’s reputation must be maintained and defended at all costs, and honor is a core pillar of the United States (U.S.) Army. In civilians, higher levels of honor ideology have been linked to firearm ownership as well as a disbelief that firearm ownership increases risk for suicide. To date however, no research has investigated how honor ideology relates to military members’ private firearm ownership and safety beliefs.

The current study investigated the relationship between honor ideology and private firearm ownership in N=301 active-duty service members of the U.S. Army. Participants completed an online demographic form and online self-report measures assessing honor ideology and firearm ownership. On average, participants were male (82.9%), 18-24 years old (51.2%), and were rank E1-E4 (subordinates; 67.9%). Race/ethnicity was not assessed at the request of Army leadership to ensure soldier confidentiality. In total, n=107 soldiers endorsed current private firearms ownership (36.5%).

Honor ideology was lower in those who currently do not privately own a firearm and do not intend to own after separation from the military (M=4.08, SD=1.05) compared with both those who do not currently own a private firearm but plan to after separation (M=4.67, SD=1.03, d=−0.56) and those who currently own a private firearm and plan to after separation (M=4.83, SD=1.02, d=−0.72). Honor ideology did not differ between military members who own a private firearm for self-protection (M=4.84, SD=0.98) compared to owning one for any other reason (M=4.81, SD=1.07, d=0.03). Finally, higher levels of honor ideology were related to lower belief in the relationship between private firearms ownership and suicide risk (r=-0.16, p< 0.001).

The DoD contends that developing a culture of lethal means safety is fundamental to reducing soldier suicide. Culturally tailored education efforts focused on secure firearm storage while maintaining a sense of honor may be particularly meaningful for this population.