The Mental Health Impact of Fatal Shootings at American Schools

Abstract

This newsletter article provides a nontechnical summary of the NBER Working Paper, "Local Exposure to School Shootings and Youth Antidepressant Use" by Maya Rossin-Slater, Molly Schnell, Hannes Schwandt, Sam Trejo, and Lindsey Uniat. The researchers analyzed prescription data from 2006 to 2015 in areas that experiences school shootings in comparison to regions further away. The researchers found that compared to two years before a fatal school shooting, antidepressant prescriptions increased for young people who lived within five miles of the school. This summary includes a chart tracking prescription use during the quarters before and after a fatal school shooting. (CVRL Abstract)