In-Home Access to a Firearm and Intimate Partner Violence among Female College Students

Intimate partner violence (IPV) and firearm violence are two persistent public health issues in the United States. Because more women experience IPV than men, and more men own firearms than women, more research is needed to examine the association between in-home firearm accessibility and physical IPV among female college students. This study examined the factors associated with physical IPV among 427 unmarried, heterosexual, female college students in Florida. Cross-sectional data were collected from Fall 2012 to Summer 2013 using an internet-delivered questionnaire. The outcome was self-reported physical IPV, and the primary predictor was in-home firearm access. Binary logistic regression with backwards listwise entry method was applied fitting age, ethnicity, race, relationship status, residency status, sorority affiliation, having ≥4 binge drinking episodes, and experience of unwanted sex. Over 10% of participants reported experiencing physical IPV, 19.0% had in-home firearm access, and 8.2% reported unwa