IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v381y2025ics0277953625005672.html

Weapon victimization and long-term cardiovascular disease risk

Author

Listed:
  • Lee, Esther
  • Semenza, Daniel C.
  • Geronimus, Arline T.
  • Heinze, Justin

Abstract

Adolescent exposure to weapon-related violence is linked to adverse mental health outcomes, yet its long-term physical health impacts remain understudied. Using four waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, this study examined the direct and indirect associations between adolescent weapon victimization and overall cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in adulthood. Weapon victimization was associated with a 55.7 % increase in 10-year CVD risk (direct) and a 10.6 % increase in 30-year risk (indirect), with mental distress, smoking, and allostatic load accounting for 76 % of the total indirect effect. Given that firearm injury and CVD are the leading causes of death among adolescents and adults in the U.S., respectively, these findings reflect the potential value of integrating violence prevention into broader public health and chronic disease strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Lee, Esther & Semenza, Daniel C. & Geronimus, Arline T. & Heinze, Justin, 2025. "Weapon victimization and long-term cardiovascular disease risk," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 381(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:381:y:2025:i:c:s0277953625005672
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118236
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953625005672
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118236?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Doom, Jenalee R. & Mason, Susan M. & Suglia, Shakira F. & Clark, Cari Jo, 2017. "Pathways between childhood/adolescent adversity, adolescent socioeconomic status, and long-term cardiovascular disease risk in young adulthood," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 166-175.
    2. Jang, Hayun & Kim, Jinho, 2023. "Peers’ parental education and cardiovascular disease risk in adulthood: The mediating role of health-related behaviors," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    3. Semenza, Daniel C. & Bond, Allison E. & Ziminski, Devon & Anestis, Michael D., 2025. "Frequency, recency, and variety of gun violence exposure: Implications for mental health and suicide among US adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 366(C).
    4. Walsemann, Katrina M. & Goosby, Bridget J. & Farr, Deeonna, 2016. "Life course SES and cardiovascular risk: Heterogeneity across race/ethnicity and gender," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 147-155.
    5. Kim, Taehoon & Kim, Jinho, 2020. "Linking adolescent future expectations to health in adulthood: Evidence and mechanisms," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cha, Hyungmin, 2022. "Past, present, and future dimensions of socioeconomic status and sexual self-efficacy of young women during the transition into adulthood," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 306(C).
    2. Kim, Youngmi & Lee, Haenim & Park, Aely, 2020. "Adverse childhood experiences, economic hardship, and obesity: Differences by gender," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    3. Xiong, Ning & Wei, Yehua Dennis, 2025. "Economic inequality, intergenerational mobility, and life expectancy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 366(C).
    4. Kwon, Keun Young & Kim, Jinho, 2025. "Housing hardship and health: Longitudinal evidence of the mediating role of health behaviors," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 366(C).
    5. Takaku, Reo, 2020. "Reversal pattern of health inequality: New evidence from a large-scale national survey in Japan," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(11), pages 1254-1262.
    6. Davillas, Apostolos & Pudney, Stephen, 2016. "Concordance of health states in couples. Analysis of self-reported, nurse administered and blood-based biomarker data in Understanding Society," ISER Working Paper Series 2016-15, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    7. Davillas, Apostolos & Pudney, Stephen, 2020. "Biomarkers as precursors of disability," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    8. Lei, Man-Kit & Berg, Mark T. & Simons, Ronald L. & Simons, Leslie G. & Beach, Steven R.H., 2020. "Childhood adversity and cardiovascular disease risk: An appraisal of recall methods with a focus on stress-buffering processes in childhood and adulthood," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    9. Macro, Laura E. & von Ah Morano, Ana E. & Halligan, Sarah L. & Barker, Alan R., 2025. "Associations between adverse childhood experiences and vascular indicators of atherosclerosis measured in childhood and early to mid-adulthood: A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 384(C).
    10. Park, Hansol & Kim, Taehoon & Kim, Jinho, 2023. "Longitudinal pathways from adolescent depressive symptoms to cardiovascular disease risk in adulthood," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 318(C).
    11. Samuel, Laura J. & Abshire Saylor, Martha & Choe, Monica Y. & Smith Wright, Rhonda & Kim, Boeun & Nkimbeng, Manka & Mena-Carrasco, Fernando & Beak, Jieun & Szanton, Sarah L., 2025. "Financial strain measures and associations with adult health: A systematic literature review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 364(C).
    12. Semenza, Daniel C. & Thomas, Christopher & Stansfield, Richard & Johnson, David B. & Burke, Kimberly C. & Anestis, Michael D., 2025. "Local homicides increase suicide in US counties," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 382(C).
    13. Marnie F. Hazlehurst & Paula S. Nurius & Anjum Hajat, 2018. "Individual and Neighborhood Stressors, Air Pollution and Cardiovascular Disease," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-18, March.
    14. Lei, Man-Kit & Weaver, Rachael Dean, 2025. "The buffering effect of social support on the link between biologically embedded childhood maltreatment and adult cardiovascular disease," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 384(C).
    15. Lucy Prior, 2021. "Allostatic Load and Exposure Histories of Disadvantage," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-17, July.
    16. Jang, Hayun & Son, Hyewon & Subramanian, S V & Kim, Jinho, 2024. "The spillover of violence: The gendered relationship between parental physical violence and peers’ bullying victimization," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    17. Kim, Jinho & Park, Gum-Ryeong & Jang, Hayun, 2024. "Adolescent depressive symptoms and memory performance in young adulthood: Testing critical period, accumulation, and pathway models using a sibling comparison design," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 360(C).
    18. Jang, Hayun & Kim, Jinho, 2023. "Peers’ parental education and cardiovascular disease risk in adulthood: The mediating role of health-related behaviors," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    19. Hedefalk, Finn & van Dijk, Ingrid K. & Dribe, Martin, 2025. "Childhood neighborhoods and health in later Life: Hospital admissions in Sweden 1939–2015," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 381(C).
    20. Hyunseo Rim & Jinho Kim, 2023. "Status Inconsistency, Gender, and Health in Korean Young Adults: Separating Educational and Skill Mismatch," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 170(3), pages 1141-1153, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:381:y:2025:i:c:s0277953625005672. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.