When Gun Violence Affects a Parent, Children’s Mental Health Can Suffer

Most prior research on firearm injuries and children has focused on youth who are directly injured or who lose a parent. Less is known about the mental health impact on children when a parent survives a firearm injury. Clarifying these effects may help clinicians identify children at elevated risk for mental health concerns and inform family-centered responses to firearm injury.

In this cohort study using U.S. commercial insurance claims from 2007–2022, nearly 4000 children ages 1–19 whose parents were treated for firearm injury were matched with 18,000 youths without exposure to parental firearm injury.