Early childhood education and handgun carrying, serious fighting, and assault charges: a retrospective cohort study

High-quality early childhood education may buffer against social and structural drivers of interpersonal violence. We examined the association of Head Start-a large-scale early childhood education program for low-income children, launched in 1965 as part of the War on Poverty-with handgun carrying, serious fighting, and assault charges among 4281 individuals born between 1980 and 1984 in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997. We found that attending Head Start vs other childcare was associated with 0.77 times the risk of handgun carrying by age 31 (95% CI: 0.60, 0.99) and 0.79 times the risk of serious fighting by age 24 (95% CI: 0.64, 0.98) among Black males. No reduction in the risk of outcomes was observed among other subpopulations or when comparing Head Start with solely parental childcare. Expanding access to high-quality early childhood education programs may reduce later-life handgun carrying and serious fighting among those at highest risk, thus reducing racialized disparities. Results suggest that early-life investments in the social, economic, and human capital of structurally disadvantaged children and families may be effective and equitable tools to prevent violence and firearm-related harms.