Exposure to gun violence and handgun carrying from adolescence to adulthood

While empirical interest in understanding the mental health consequences surrounding gun violence has increased, currently there is much unknown about the long reach of childhood exposure to gun violence on handgun carrying across the life course.

The current study aims to evaluate the relations between witnessing gun violence before age 12 and subsequent handgun-carrying behavior from adolescence to adulthood in a nationally representative sample of U.S. youth.

Data from 15 waves from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997) are analyzed (Ns range from 5695 to 5875 participants). Categorical latent growth curve models are estimated to assess individual differences in handgun-carrying behavior over time and the relationships between childhood exposure to gun violence, initial levels during adolescence, and rates of change from adolescence to adulthood.

Participants who reported witnessing seeing someone shot or shot at in childhood demonstrated higher odds of carrying a handgun in adolescence. Exposure to gun violence was not associated with changes in the odds of handgun carrying from adolescence to adulthood after controlling for theoretically relevant covariates.

Childhood exposure to gun violence appears to be a risk factor for handgun carrying in adolescence. Nonetheless, other behaviors and demographic characteristics account for inter-individual differences in changes in handgun carrying across the life course.