Local Exposure to School Shootings and Youth Antidepressant Use

Arbeitspapier

While over 240,000 American students experienced a school shooting in the last two decades, little is known about the impacts of these events on the mental health of surviving youth. Using large-scale prescription data from 2006 to 2015, we examine the effects of 44 school shootings on youth antidepressant use in a difference-in-difference framework. We find that local exposure to fatal school shootings increases youth antidepressant use by 21.4 percent in the following two years. These effects are smaller in areas with a higher density of mental health providers who focus on behavioral, rather than pharmacological, interventions.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 12837

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health ; Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
• Subject: school shootings ; youth mental health ; antidepressants

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Rossin-Slater, Maya ; Schnell, Molly ; Schwandt, Hannes ; Trejo, Sam ; Uniat, Lindsey
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2019

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/215233
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET