Adverse childhood experiences and adolescent handgun carrying

Purpose: Considerable research has shown that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with well-known correlates of handgun carrying, such as delinquent peer association, substance use, and police contact and/or arrest. Yet, little to no research to date has explicitly examined the potential role of ACEs in adolescent handgun carrying. The current study examines this important gap in existing literature.Methods: Data drawn from the 2022 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey (FYSAS, n = 23,078), a statewide representative sample of Florida high School students, were analyzed to examine the associations between in-dividual ACEs and cumulative ACEs and carrying a handgun in the past 12 months.Results: Exposure to ACEs, such as family incarceration, family violence, and parental separation/divorce increased the likelihood of carrying a handgun three or more times in the past 12 months. Moreover, a dose-response relationship was identified between ACEs and handgun carrying, wherein, the more ACEs an adolescent was exposed to, the more likely they were to have carried a handgun in the past 12 months.Conclusions: This study highlights the contribution of ACEs to adolescent handgun carrying behaviors.