UW study: Guns in home can lead to child depression

Guns in the home could be bad for your mental health.

That, according to a new study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

A UW graduate looked at kids in the 1990s and found a connection between guns in the home and severe depression among children.

In general, adolescent children were 3 percent more likely to experience severe depression symptoms when there was easy access to a gun in the home.

That percentage jumped significantly for girls.

The study suggests that impact could be more impactful now because the percentage of homes where there’s easy access to guns has doubled in the last 20 years.

Easy access to guns was reported in 20 percent of households then but has jumped to 40 percent now.

The study concludes that, while reduced gun ownership decreases the rates of suicides, homicides and accidental gun deaths in a home, it might also improve the mental health of girls specifically.