From 1999 to 2020, an estimated 1.19 million children lost a parent to drug poisoning or firearm violence in the U.S., according to a May 2024 analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study examined publicly available vital and Census data.
Drugs and firearms caused 23% of all parental deaths in 2020 compared to 12% in 1999, researchers found. Black youth were disproportionately burdened, mainly due to their fathers being shot and killed.
“U.S. youth are at high and increasing risk of experiencing parental death by drugs or firearms,” researchers wrote. “Efforts to stem this problem should prioritize averting drug overdoses and firearm violence, especially among structurally marginalized groups.”
Kids who lose a parent are at risk of dealing with negative health outcomes, the study says. While the study doesn’t give examples, those outcomes can include early death, a loss of function and poor well-being, according to the CDC.
The analysis compared parental deaths from firearms, drugs and all other causes.
“The U.S. is experiencing dual overlapping public health crises of drug poisoning … and firearm deaths,” researchers say in the study. “Since 1999, more than one million residents of the U.S. have died by fatal drug poisonings and more than 750,000 by firearms.”
This study is a good example for journalists to use to demonstrate the ripple effects of firearm violence. A shooting can also victimize loved ones and leave them with lifelong consequences.
Researchers used federal death statistics, fertility data and population demographics to estimate how many parents lost their lives to drugs or firearm violence.
In the 21-year period, there were 931,785 drug poisoning deaths and 736,779 firearm-related deaths. About 74% of the people who died were fathers and 71% were white, 17.5% were Black and 9.5% were Hispanic, according to the analysis.
About 434,000 of kids from 1999 to 2020 lost a parent to firearms and 759,000 lost one to overdoses, according to the findings. The number of young people who lost a parent to firearm violence in that time period increased by 39% while the number who lost a parent to an overdose increased by 345%.
The analysis found parents also tended to be younger — the age of the parents who died from a drug overdose or from a firearm-related injury in the U.S. is about 42, the age people are likely to have young or teenage children.
Other research has found that the loss of a parent, in the short and long term, can have negative impacts on a child’s health, education and livelihood.
Resources
There are several gun violence prevention organizations that often specifically focus on the impacts on children. Those groups include:
- Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit that advocates for stronger policies to prevent firearm violence, endorses “gun sense” candidates and supports research on the causes of firearm violence and solutions. The group was formed in 2013 by merging Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
- Moms Demand Action is the nonprofit founded by Shannon Watts after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. The organization advocates for stronger firearm safety measures and pushes for stronger state and federal laws on guns. The group is a part of Everytown for Gun Safety and has a chapter in every state and Washington, D.C.
- Sandy Hook Promise is a nonprofit founded and led by several family members who lost loved ones killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. The group’s intention is to honor all victims of gun violence and encourage meaningful action to prevent gun violence.
