Inequalities in Exposure to Firearm Violence by Race, Sex, and Birth Cohort From Childhood to Age 40 Years, 1995-2021.

Importance: The past quarter-century has seen both sharp declines and increases in firearm violence in the United States. Yet, little is known about the age of first exposure to firearm violence and how it may differ by race, sex, and cohort.

Objective: To examine race, sex, and cohort differences in exposure to firearm violence in a representative longitudinal study of children who grew up in periods with varying rates of firearm violence in the United States and to examine spatial proximity to firearm violence in adulthood.

Cohort Profile: Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods and Its Additions (PHDCN+).

The Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) began in the mid-1990s, using an accelerated longitudinal design and drawing a representative sample of over 6200 children from a total of seven birth cohorts (ages 0 to 18) living in Chicago. Participants were followed for a second and third wave of data collection ending in 1998 and 2002, respectively. Independent surveys and observations on Chicago neighborhoods were also conducted.

Pubertal Timing and Adolescent Alcohol Use: The Mediating Role of Parental and Peer Influences.

Using intergenerational, prospective data at ages 9 months, 7, 11, and 14 years from the nationally representative United Kingdom Millennium Cohort Study, this interdisciplinary study unpacks why 14-year-old adolescents with early perceived pubertal timing (PT) were more likely to drink alcohol (ever, frequent, and binge drinking) compared to those whose PT was on-time or late (5,757 girls, 5,799 boys; 80% White, 10% Asian, 3% Black, and 7% Other British). Parents allowed drinking among 22% (18%) of early PT girls (boys) compared to 11% of late PT adolescents; formal mediation models showed differences by PT in parent permissiveness and gains in alcohol-using friends primarily explained age 14 PT-drinking associations. Parental alcohol permissiveness should be a key prevention target for early PT adolescents.

Changes in Externalizing Behaviors After Children First Have an Alcoholic Drink and First Drink Heavily.

Objective: Proximal changes in externalizing behaviors before and after children and early adolescents have their first alcoholic drink and first heavy drinking episode are examined using intergenerational, prospective data from the ongoing U.K. national Millennium Cohort Study (10,529 child-parent pairs followed over 35,406 occasions).