Skip to main content

Adverse Childhood Experiences Tied to Later Household Firearm Ownership

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on Aug 20, 2024.

By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Aug. 20, 2024 -- Cumulative adverse childhood experience (ACE) exposure is associated with higher odds of household firearm ownership in adulthood, according to a study published online Aug. 15 in JAMA Network Open.

Alexander Testa, Ph.D., from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and colleagues used survey data from 1,709 adults from the 2022 Nevada Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to examine the association between ACEs and household firearm ownership among U.S. adults.

The researchers found that household firearm ownership was lowest among respondents with no ACEs (30.8 percent) and highest among those with four or more ACEs (49.8 percent). There was a significant association between having multiple ACEs and household firearm ownership compared with no ACEs. For specific ACE items, household illegal drug use (adjusted odds ratio, 1.57) and verbal abuse (adjusted odds ratio, 1.54) were associated with household firearm ownership. The association of four or more ACEs and household firearm ownership was significantly similar among females and males.

"The relationship may be due to a heightened sense of vulnerability to physical violence and greater perceived threats to personal safety associated with a traumatic childhood, which lead individuals to seek self-protection," the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted August 2024

Read this next

Adverse Childhood Experiences Tied to Endometriosis Risk

FRIDAY, June 13, 2025 -- Early life adversity is associated with an increased risk of being diagnosed with endometriosis later in life, according to a study published online June...

Talking Therapy Reduces Depression, Anxiety Symptoms in Stroke Survivors

THURSDAY, June 12, 2025 -- For stroke survivors, talking therapy is associated with moderate reductions in depression and large reductions in anxiety symptoms, according to a...

Systemic Social Factors May Increase the Risk of Psychotic Experiences

TUESDAY, June 10, 2025 -- Experiences with discrimination may increase the risk of psychotic experiences among marginalized young adults, according to a study published online May...

More news resources

Subscribe to our newsletter

Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.