Article Version of Record

American state gun law strength and state resident differences in neuroticism levels

Author(s) / Creator(s)

McCann, Stewart J. H.
Zawila, Chantelle

Abstract / Description

Relations between state gun law strength and state-aggregated levels of Republican leaning, gun ownership, and resident Big Five neuroticism (based on 619,397 residents nationally) were determined in a state-level analysis of the 50 American states using multiple regression strategies with state socioeconomic status, white population percent, and urban population percent statistically controlled. In a standard hierarchical model with state gun law strength as the criterion, the three demographic variables accounted for 44.4% of the variance and the Big Five accounted for another 21.9%. When the Big Five entered stepwise after the demographics, neuroticism was the sole significant personality predictor, accounting for another 13.4% of the variance. Greater state gun law strength was associated with higher state resident neuroticism. Further hierarchical regression analyses showed that state Republican leaning and gun ownership could account separately and jointly for significant variance in state gun law strength but not with state resident neuroticism controlled.

Keyword(s)

gun laws Big Five neuroticism American states Republican gun ownership partisanship

Persistent Identifier

Date of first publication

2016-04-07

Journal title

Journal of Social and Political Psychology

Volume

4

Issue

1

Page numbers

91–113

Publisher

PsychOpen GOLD

Publication status

publishedVersion

Review status

peerReviewed

Is version of

Citation

McCann, S. J. H., & Zawila, C. (2016). American state gun law strength and state resident differences in neuroticism levels. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 4(1), 91–113. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v4i1.562
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    McCann, Stewart J. H.
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Zawila, Chantelle
  • PsychArchives acquisition timestamp
    2018-11-26T12:45:48Z
  • Made available on
    2018-11-26T12:45:48Z
  • Date of first publication
    2016-04-07
  • Abstract / Description
    Relations between state gun law strength and state-aggregated levels of Republican leaning, gun ownership, and resident Big Five neuroticism (based on 619,397 residents nationally) were determined in a state-level analysis of the 50 American states using multiple regression strategies with state socioeconomic status, white population percent, and urban population percent statistically controlled. In a standard hierarchical model with state gun law strength as the criterion, the three demographic variables accounted for 44.4% of the variance and the Big Five accounted for another 21.9%. When the Big Five entered stepwise after the demographics, neuroticism was the sole significant personality predictor, accounting for another 13.4% of the variance. Greater state gun law strength was associated with higher state resident neuroticism. Further hierarchical regression analyses showed that state Republican leaning and gun ownership could account separately and jointly for significant variance in state gun law strength but not with state resident neuroticism controlled.
    en_US
  • Publication status
    publishedVersion
  • Review status
    peerReviewed
  • Citation
    McCann, S. J. H., & Zawila, C. (2016). American state gun law strength and state resident differences in neuroticism levels. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 4(1), 91–113. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v4i1.562
    en_US
  • ISSN
    2195-3325
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1412
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.1831
  • Language of content
    eng
  • Publisher
    PsychOpen GOLD
  • Is version of
    https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v4i1.562
  • Keyword(s)
    gun laws
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    Big Five
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    neuroticism
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    American states
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    Republican
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    gun ownership
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    partisanship
    en_US
  • Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)
    150
  • Title
    American state gun law strength and state resident differences in neuroticism levels
    en_US
  • DRO type
    article
  • Issue
    1
  • Journal title
    Journal of Social and Political Psychology
  • Page numbers
    91–113
  • Volume
    4
  • Visible tag(s)
    Version of Record