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A research study to determine the correlation between gun ownership and beliefs of others.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
A research study to determine the corrleation between gun ownership and beliefs of others. Impact of subcultures on ownership of guns for protection. Methodological problems of various studies. Research design. Hypotheses. Definitions. Results. Concludes that a positive correlation exists between incorporation of the beliefs of others into an individual's belief system.
Paper Introduction:
Introduction
The literature on firearms ownership is filled with methodological problems and results in limited knowledge. While Lizotte and Bordua (1980) attempted to overcome these problems with their own study, analysis of their findings demonstrated a limitation regarding ownership of guns for protection, due to their definition of socialization and subculture.
Problem
Previous research on the topic of firearm ownership has studied the issue from a social perspective, identifying it as a social problem as opposed to a behavior due to a socialization process. It is also noted that studies regarding the use of firearms for sports is lacking as is literature regarding the ownership of guns for protection
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Firearms ownership for sportand protection: Two divergent models. W., King, B. Thus it is reasonable to expect and hypothesize that anindividual's perception of significant other's beliefs in gun ownership forprotection would lead to that individual owning a gun for protection, tomaintain high levels of self and group esteem and membership. Terms are defined as follows: Significant Others: For this study significant others isoperationally defined as friends, family members, a police officer, andimportant others. Minium, E. (198 ). The authors also point outthat owning a gun for protection can include the belonging to a subcultureof protection which can be due to beliefs in violence or beliefs inprotection. An additionalsource of study has been the theory that violence leads to gun ownership,as in the view that violence attitudes leads to gun ownership as opposed toactual violence or fear leading to gun ownership for protection. S. Theory Social identity theory offers a theoretical framework for the presentstudy. A study is neededto determine if participant's perceptions of belonging to a subculturewhich values guns for protection is related to gun ownership forprotection. The social identity theory can be used to explain that anindividual's perceptions of significant others within their social groupwould influence and lead to behaviors that would correspond to thesebeliefs. It determines how well bivariate data points stay within theassumed straight line of best fit (Minium, King, & Bear, 1993). This finding goes beyond the study by Lizotte and Bordua (198 ), withits expansion of the definition of socialization to include perceptions ofother's beliefs. The other aspect of the self-concept is thesocial identity, which is defined as that part of the self-concept that isderived from the knowledge of a membership within a particular social groupalong with all of the group's values. The use of this definition resulted in findings that socializationplayed a strong role in the use of guns for sports. Findings support the hypothesis. The Pearson product-moment correlationcoefficient or "r" is the most commonly used to measure the association oftwo quantitative variables characterized by a linear relationship (positiveor negative). Hypothesis 3: Participant's perceptions that a police officer'sbelieve gun ownership for protection as being important will besignificantly positively correlated with participant gun ownership forprotection. The following questions operationally define thesevariables. Hypothesis 2: Participant's perceptions that family members believegun ownership for protection as being important will be significantlypositively correlated with participant gun ownership for protection.Findings demonstrated a significantly positive correlation betweenperceptions of family member's beliefs and gun ownership, with (r) of .3344at p=. Findings support the hypothesis. Restricting the definition of the social model of asubgroup to include overt behaviors led to the finding by Lizotte andBordua, that socialization did play an important role in gun ownership forsports but it did not play an important role in gun ownership forprotection. The hypotheses are as follows: Hypothesis 1: Participant's perceptions that friends believe gunownership for protection as being important will be significantlypositively correlated with participant gun ownership for protection. A study limitation can be found inthe question regarding friend's beliefs. Thus correlational data regarding participant's perception ofsignificant others' beliefs in gun ownership for protection (s73, x74, x75,x76) was related to correlational data regarding participant's gunownership for protection (x1 7). This limited definition of the socialization process resulted infindings, which may also be limited. However, thisdefinition also led to the conclusion that there was no evidence ofsocialization with regard to a subculture of protective gun ownership(Lizotte & Bordua, 198 ). Findings of this study conflict with this conclusion and offernew information regarding socialization aspects of gun ownership forprotection. This theory allows for the extension of the definition of thesocialization process to include factors beyond those considered by Lizotteand Bordua. It is also notedthat studies regarding the use of firearms for sports is lacking as isliterature regarding the ownership of guns for protection. New York: John Wiley & Sons.-----------------------Participant's perceptions of significant other's beliefs in gun ownershipfor protectionParticipant's gun ownership for protectionParticipant's perceptions of friends beliefs in gun ownership forprotection.Participant's gun ownership for protectionParticipant's perceptions of family members beliefs in gun ownership forprotection.Participant's perceptions of a police officer's beliefs in gun ownershipfor protection.Participant's perceptions of important others' beliefs in gun ownership forprotection.Participant's gun ownership for protectionParticipant's gun ownership for protectionParticipant's gun ownership for protection For example, socialization includesthe perceived beliefs of belonging and social identity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58(1), 6 -67. J., Bordua, D. J., & Bordua, D. Lizotte, A. Problem Previous research on the topic of firearm ownership has studied theissue from a social perspective, identifying it as a social problem asopposed to a behavior due to a socialization process. 1. For example, actual behaviors ofsignificant others (friend owns a gun) may or may not be a strongerpredictor of participant gun ownership than perceptions of other's beliefs. Hypothesis 4: Participant's perceptions that important others believegun ownership for protection as being important will be significantlypositively correlated with participant gun ownership for protection.Findings demonstrated a significantly positive correlation betweenperceptions of important other's beliefs and gun ownership, with (r) of.3542 at p=. Studiesregarding protection issues have failed to demonstrate the many variablesinvolved (Lizotte & Bordula, 198 ). J. (1993). Firearmsownership for sport and protection: Two divergent models. Introduction The literature on firearms ownership is filled with methodologicalproblems and results in limited knowledge. Hypothesis 2: Participant's perceptions that family members believegun ownership for protection as being important will be significantlypositively correlated with participant gun ownership for protection. Existing data was analyzedto determine the relationship between participant's perceptions ofsignificant others regarding the importance of owning a gun for protectionand participant's gun ownership for protection. 1. Future studies will need to further explore this finding with theinclusion of multiple socialization factors and additional variables, whichmay affect these processes. Statistical reasoningin psychology and education. "My friends who own guns for protection think I should own agun for protection?" "Most members of my family think I should own a gunfor protection." "A police officer thinks that I should own a gun forprotection." "Most people who are important to me think I should own a gunfor protection." Gun Ownership: For this study gun ownership is operationally definedby the question "How many guns have you owned, overall, mainly forprotection?" The data to be analyzed was obtained by students in the spring of1994. Correlation analysis was used todetermine relationships between variables. For the current study, thiscorrelational data regarding the independent and dependent variables wasanalyzed. Since the socialization processincludes the identification of beliefs of significant others and theincorporation of those beliefs into the individual's belief system, it canbe concluded that gun ownership for protection does include socializationvariables. For example race may be a variable whichalters the effects of other's beliefs. Hypothesis 1: Participant's perceptions that friends believe gunownership for protection as being important will be significantlypositively correlated with participant gun ownership for protection.Findings demonstrated a significantly positive correlation betweenperceptions of friend's beliefs and gun ownership, with (r) of .2525 atp=. A questionnaire regarding issues related to gun ownership wasadministered and answers were scored. (199 ). Methods For this study an archival research design was used to analyzeexisting data, not collected by the researcher. While a manifestation of the socialization process doesinclude overt behaviors noted by these authors, according to the socialidentity theory, it also includes beliefs and perceptions of beliefs.Expansion of the socialization definition to include these perceptions ofbeliefs allows for the further study of variables, which may be associatedwith gun ownership for protection. This question is worded toinclude that the friend does own a gun, which may have affected results.Future studies will need to distinguish between actual behaviors (friendowns a gun) and beliefs without corresponding behaviors (friend believesshould own a gun but does not own a gun). Hypothesis 3: Participant's perceptions that a police officer'sbelieve gun ownership for protection as being important will besignificantly positively correlated with participant gun ownership forprotection. M., & Bear, G. While Lizotte and Bordua (198 )attempted to overcome these problems with their own study, analysis oftheir findings demonstrated a limitation regarding ownership of guns forprotection, due to their definition of socialization and subculture. 1. Lizotte, A. Correlations determine the degree thattwo variables vary together. The independent variables for this study are participant's perceptionsof significant others, to include friends, family members, a policeofficer, and important others and the dependent variable for this study isparticipant gun ownership for protection. Findings show that participant'sperceptions of significant other's beliefs about gun ownership forprotection lead to participant ownership of a gun for protection. Personal identity includes the beliefs of one's ownattributes, abilities, or skills, such as believing the self to beintelligent or attractive. (198 ). 1) werefound for each of the relationships, offers support not only for thehypotheses but for the theoretical model. Results The results of this study are described, demonstrating support forthe hypotheses and theoretical model.Theoretical ModelFurther Model BreakdownFindings Results regarding the research question "What is the relationshipbetween participant's perceptions of significant other's beliefs regardinggun ownership for protection and participant's gun ownership?" and thehypotheses are as follows. J., & White, C. Conclusion Since findings demonstrated that a significantly positive correlationwas found between perceptions of significant other's beliefs and gunownership, it is concluded that these perceptions affected theparticipant's gun owning behavior. Thus the self is defined by theperceptions of the concerns or beliefs, or characteristics of one's chosensocial group. 1. Crocker and Luhtanen (199 ) pointed out that according to socialidentity theory an individual develops their concept of self according totwo aspects. Lizotte and Bordula (198 ) attempted to go beyond thesemethodological problems and study gun ownership within a sportingsubculture and gun ownership for protection. The research question is as follows: What is the relationshipbetween participant's perceptions of significant other's beliefs regardinggun ownership for protection and participant's gun ownership? Findings support the hypothesis. In addition, the self strives to achieve and maintain highlevels of self-esteem, which is also based on perceptions of having apositive and acceptable social identity. References Crocker, J., & Luhtanen, R. American Sociological Review,45(April), 229-244. Collective self-esteem andingroup bias. Findings demonstrated a significantly positive correlationbetween perceptions of a police officer's beliefs and gun ownership, with(r) of .2491 at p=. Hypothesis 4: Participant's perceptions that important others believegun ownership for protection as being important will be significantlypositively correlated with participant gun ownership for protection. Social identity theory statesthat the individual will identify favorable beliefs regarding their ownsocial group, compared to other social groups, and will attempt to maintaina positive social identity within this group. Findings support the hypothesis.Findings in Defense of Model The findings that significant positive correlations (p=. AmericanSociological Review, 45(April), 499-5 3. For their study, the subculture membership model included certaincriteria regarding behavior, socialization, and contact with members.Socialization variables included intergenerational transmittance throughfamily socialization with parents' owning a gun and age of owning a firstgun.
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