Sorenson, Susan B

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2008 - 200932010 - 20123
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Subject: Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration ×

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Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
  • Publication
    Keeping Guns Out of the Hands of Abusers: Handgun Purchases and Restraining Orders
    (2008-05-01) Vittes, Katherine A.; Sorenson, Susan B
    Persons under certain domestic violence restraining orders are prohibited by federal law from purchasing and possessing a firearm. Little is known about their gun purchases. Using administrative data from one U.S. state, we linked 794,426 restraining orders with 1,388,724 handgun purchase applications. Findings suggest that restrained persons are not a less law abiding group in general, but they appear to be repeatedly or serially abusive to intimate partners. Their handgun purchase rates were highest after the order expired.
  • Publication
    Gender Disparities in Injury Mortality: Consistent, Persistent, and Larger Than You’d Think
    (2011-12-01) Sorenson, Susan B
    Objective. Given the recent increase in injury mortality, particularly among women, it is important to update knowledge about gender disparities in injury mortality. Methods. Data were drawn from the Web-based Injury Query System, which contains U.S. injury mortality data from 1981 through 2007. Male-to-female rate ratios in injury mortality were calculated for key variables, and age and ethnic group comparisons were made. Results. Boys and men are more likely than girls and women to die of injury. From 1981 to 2007, the male-to-female age-adjusted rate ratio decreased by 20% to 2.15 for unintentional injury and increased by 11% to 3.91 for violence-related injury. Excess male mortality exists in manner of death, cause of death, and within ethnic and age groups. In addition, with rare exception, the gender disparity is greater than ethnicity and age disparities in unintentional and violence-related injury mortality. Conclusions. Gender disparities in injury mortality are consistent and persistent. Gender patterns in injury mortality do not follow typical social justice analyses of health in that the structurally advantaged group, men, is at greater risk. Lifestyle and behavioral risks as well as masculine socialization are considered.
  • Publication
    Mental Health and Firearms in Community-Based Surveys: Implications for Suicide Prevention
    (2008-06-01) Sorenson, Susan B; Vittes, Katherine A.
    Suicide rates are higher among those who own a handgun and among those who live in a household with a handgun. The present investigation examined the association between gun ownership and mental health, another risk factor for suicide. Data from the General Social Survey, a series of surveys of U.S. adults, were analyzed to compare general emotional and mental health, sadness and depression, functional mental health, and mental health help seeking among gun owners, persons who do not own their own gun but reside in a household with a gun, and those who do not own a gun. After taking into account a few basic demographic characteristics associated with both variables, there appears to be no association between mental health and gun ownership. Nor is there any association between mental health and living in a household with a firearm. Findings suggest that the high risk of suicide among those who own or live in a household with a gun is not related to poor mental health. Implications for prevention are discussed.
  • Publication
    Views of Intimate Partner Violence in Same- and Opposite-Sex Relationships
    (2009-05-01) Sorenson, Susan B; Thomas, Kristie A.
    Attitudes toward same-sex intimate relationships and toward intimate partner violence (IPV) are changing. Little research, however, has examined norms about IPV in same-sex relationships. Using a fractional factorial (experimental vignette) design, we conducted random-digit-dialed interviews in four languages with 3,679 community-residing adults. Multivariate analyses of responses to 14,734 vignettes suggest that IPV against gay male, lesbian, and heterosexual women is more likely than that against heterosexual men to be considered illegal, that it should be illegal, police called, and a stay-away order issued. Regardless of gender and sexual orientation, the type of abuse and whether a weapon was displayed are the strongest predictors of respondents' judgments about whether a behavior is illegal and merits a range of societal interventions.
  • Publication
  • Publication
    Intimate Partner Violence at the Scene: Incident Characteristics and Implications for Public Health Surveillance
    (2010-04-01) Joshi, Manisha; Sorenson, Susan B
    Using data that, to our knowledge, have not been used before for this purpose, we examined 9,231 opposite-sex intimate partner violence calls for law enforcement assistance recorded in the Compstat system of a large U.S. city. Although women were the predominant victims, injuries were documented more often for men. Only about 1% of incidents were considered to be a restraining order violation although many orders were active in the city at the time. The data appeared to be of good quality and just a few changes in recording procedures would increase Compstat’s usefulness for public health in U.S. cities.