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Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR)

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Key Takeaways

More than 100,000 American children attended a school at which a shooting took place in 2018 and 2019.

Research indicates a higher rate of antidepressant use among those exposed to a school shooting in the years following the gun violence.

School shootings lead to drops in student enrollment and a decline in average test scores.

School shootings also lead to an increase in student absenteeism and the likelihood of needing to repeat a grade in the two following years.

Students exposed to shootings at their schools are less likely to graduate high school, go to college, and graduate college, and they are less likely to be employed and have lower earnings in their mid-20s.

As America reels from yet another school shooting - this one at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas - much of the public discussion has centered on the lives lost: 19 children and 2 teachers. The Uvalde massacre is the second deadliest on record, following the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

These shootings are only two on an already long list of horrific tragedies that have cut short the lives of too many children and their educators over the past decades. According to the Washington Post school shootings database, at least 185 children, educators, and others have been killed by gun violence at American schools since the Columbine massacre in 1999, leaving behind hundreds of grief-stricken family members, friends, and communities.

The costs of school shootings for the direct victims and their loved ones are unimaginable. And an increasing body of research shows that the death toll captures only one part of the broader lasting impact that gun violence at schools permeates throughout our society.

Hundreds of thousands of students exposed

Over the last two decades, the number of shootings at U.S. schools has doubled, and in my research with Marika Cabral, Bokyung Kim, Molly Schnell, and Hannes Schwandt, we estimate that more than 100,000 American children attended a school at which a shooting took place in 2018 and 2019 alone (Cabral et al., 2021). Although mass school shootings such as the one in Uvalde tend to receive significant media attention, the majority of shootings are thankfully much less deadly and also less widely publicized. In fact, about three-quarters of shootings in 2018 and 2019 led to no fatalities at all, and the vast majority had fewer than two deaths.

Researchers have been analyzing the impacts of exposure to shootings on the growing number of students experiencing them in American schools. While many students are physically unharmed, studies have consistently found consequences to their mental health, educational, and economic trajectories that last for years, and potentially decades, to come.

A large interdisciplinary body of research characterizes the neurological and physiological mechanisms through which trauma from exposure to violence can impact young people. In brief, such trauma can affect both the biological stress system as well as young developing brains (see, e.g.: Osofsky, 1999; De Bellis, 2001; Carrion et al., 2002, 2007, 2008, 2012; De Bellis and Zisk, 2014; Heissel et al., 2018; Miller et al., 2018).

Consistent with these mechanisms, large numbers of studies from different countries and contexts have documented negative effects of exposure to local community and domestic violence on children's educational and behavioral outcomes (see, e.g.: Cook and Ludwig, 2002; Aizer, 2007; Caudillo and Torche, 2014; Sharkey, 2010, 2018; Sharkey et al., 2012, 2014; Duque, 2017; Monteiro and Rocha, 2017; Gershenson and Tekin, 2018; Koppensteiner and Menezes, 2021).

At the same time, some have argued that children are very resilient and can "bounce back" from trauma, implying that childhood violence exposure - while being damaging in the short run - may not have lasting effects (Agaibi and Wilson, 2005; Goldstein and Brooks, 2005; Garrett et al., 2019).

A matter of location: Why school shootings differ from gun violence elsewhere

There are several reasons why shootings at schools may impact children differently than when they occur elsewhere. Recent studies show that local exposure to police killings of unarmed Black and Hispanic individuals adversely affects the mental health of Black adults (Bor et al., 2018) and educational outcomes of Black and Hispanic students (Ang, 2021).

The mechanisms driving these impacts may include the possibility that Blacks and Hispanics feel a stronger connection to same-race victims of police brutality and that they view these events as breaking their trust in institutions such as law enforcement. Similarly, children exposed to shootings at schools may suffer more acutely than when they are exposed to violence in other settings because of their connection to student and teacher victims and the loss of trust in their schools' ability to keep them safe.

Further, the intensive media coverage that comes with a school shooting is likely to have put many American students on edge. So much so that exposure to any gunshots in a school setting - even an accidental discharge - may be particularly traumatic if it invokes an intense amount of fear (Lowe and Galea, 2017). Also, compared with violence in other contexts, school shootings are likely to cause a greater amount of disruption to student learning, as they might affect teacher turnover rates, teaching quality, classroom resources, and the continuity of instruction.

Lastly, given that "peer effects" in schools are important - i.e., students' learning and well-being are highly influenced by what their peers do in the classroom setting - the adverse impacts of a student's own trauma from experiencing a school shooting may be amplified due to disruptions from other shooting-exposed peers (Carrell et al., 2018).

Early impacts on survivors: Mental health and education

Several studies demonstrate that school shootings have detrimental effects on the mental health and educational outcomes of surviving youth. In my work with Molly Schnell, Hannes Schwandt, Sam Trejo, and Lindsey Uniat (Rossin-Slater et al., 2020), we analyzed the impacts of 44 U.S. school shootings that took place between 2008 and 2013 on youth antidepressant use.

We compared the number of antidepressant prescriptions written by providers practicing within five miles of a school that experienced a shooting with those written by providers 10 to 15 miles away, both before and after the shooting. Our results indicated that the average monthly number of antidepressant prescriptions written to youth under age 20 by providers located near schools that experienced a fatal shooting was 21.3 percent higher relative to providers located farther away in the two to three years following a shooting than in the two years before.

Consistent with this evidence suggesting a deterioration in shooting-exposed children's mental health, Levine and McKnight (2020) document an increase in deaths (including suicides and accidents) among residents of Jefferson County, Colorado, who were between 14 and 18 at the time of the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School (which is located in that county).

When it comes to educational outcomes, studies have found that school shootings lead to drops in student enrollment and a decline in average test scores (Abouk and Adams, 2013; Poutvaara and Ropponen, 2018; Beland and Kim, 2016; Levine and McKnight, 2020).

In my research with Marika Cabral, Bokyung Kim, Molly Schnell, and Hannes Schwandt, we examined the effects of the 33 shootings that took place during school hours at public schools in Texas between 1995 and 2016 (Cabral et al., 2021). We used detailed administrative student-level data on all children in Texas public schools and analyzed changes in educational outcomes within the same students in the years before and after a shooting.

In order to control for general time trends, we compared these within-student changes to changes in students from control schools that were chosen to be similar based on their institutional and student demographic characteristics. We found that, in the two years following a shooting, exposed students experienced a 12.1 percent increase in the share of school days that they were absent, a 27.8 percent increase in the likelihood of being chronically absent, and a more than doubling of the likelihood of needing to repeat a grade.

The long haul: Educational and economic outcomes for shooting survivors

Our team also studied longer-term consequences of exposure to gun violence at schools. In this analysis, we studied the impacts of the eight shootings that took place at Texas public high schools between 1998 and 2006 on individual outcomes through age 26.

We compared cohorts of shooting-exposed students with cohorts that attended the same schools in the years before the shooting occurred. As in the short-run analysis, we compared these differences in cohort outcomes with the analogous cohort differences in matched control schools.

We found that students who were exposed to a shooting at their school in grades 10 and 11 were 3.7 percent at the mean less likely to graduate from high school; 9.5 percent less likely to enroll in any college; 17.2 percent less likely to enroll in a four-year college; and 15.3 percent less likely to obtain a bachelor's degree by age 26.

We also found that students exposed to shootings in grades 9 through 11 were 6.3 percent less likely to be employed and had $2,779.84 (13.5 percent) lower average annual earnings between the ages of 24 and 26. Our estimates imply a reduction of $115,550 (in 2018 dollars) in the present discounted value of lifetime earnings per shooting-exposed student. Given that approximately 50,000 children per year have been experiencing shootings at their schools in recent times, this amounts to an aggregate cost of $5.8 billion per year in terms of lost lifetime earnings among survivors.

Importantly - and thankfully - the shootings that we studied in Texas were not as deadly as the one in Uvalde. In fact, 18 of the 33 shootings had no fatalities, and no shootings had more than one death. And yet, our research indicates that these less deadly and mostly unpublicized acts of gun violence at schools have major and long-lasting consequences for many children who were on school grounds when they occurred.

Lessons learned and policy considerations

It is impossible to overstate the devastation caused by the lives lost to school shootings. But research indicates that even those who escape these events without any visible physical harm carry scars that could impair their lives for many years to come.

While it is undeniably clear that the United States urgently needs to take action to prevent school shootings from occurring in the first place, it is also important to remember the hundreds of thousands of children who have already experienced them.

Indeed, our team's estimates of the impacts of exposure to school shootings in Texas on children's long-run outcomes are comparable in magnitudes to those found by researchers who studied the survivors of the 2011 massacre in Utøya, Norway (Bharadwaj et al., 2021). The Utøya shooting was the deadliest event in recent Norwegian history, killing 69 people. It is therefore in some ways remarkable that we find similarly large negative impacts of exposure to shootings in Texas public schools in which at most one person was killed.

While Norway and Texas differ in a variety of ways, it is important to note that the Norwegian government provided substantial resources and support to the survivors of the Utøya attack, which likely buffered against some of the detrimental long-term effects. In comparison, we are not aware of governmental responses to the school shootings that we studied, and we did not find any changes in observable mental health resources to support students (e.g., as measured by the number of social support staff) at the school level.

Thus, as we mourn the 21 lives tragically cut short on May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, we must not forget about the hundreds of students who were also at school on that day. This loss of life underscores the devastating cost of America's continued inaction on gun control. And as policymakers debate what can be done to prevent school shootings, they must also act to help the hundreds of thousands of children who have already survived them.

Taking steps similar to those in Norway, Congress and statehouses throughout the U.S. can ensure that schools, families, and communities have access to mental health resources and financial support. This is of paramount importance if our society wants to give these children a chance at prevailing as happy, successful, and productive adults.
Maya Rossin-Slater is a SIEPR Senior Fellow and an Associate Professor of Health Policy in the Department of Health Policy at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Her research includes work in health, public, and labor economics. She focuses on issues in maternal and child well-being, family structure and behavior, and policies targeting disadvantaged populations in the United States and other developed countries.
References

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Duque, Valentina, "Early-life conditions and child development: Evidence from a violent conflict," SSM-population health, 2017, 3, 121-131.

Garrett, Amy, Judith A. Cohen, Sanno Zack, Victor Carrion, Booil Jo, Joseph Blader, Alexis Rodriguez, Thomas J. Vanasse, Allan L. Reiss, and W. Stewart Agras, "Longitudinal changes in brain function associated with symptom improvement in youth with PTSD," Journal of Psychiatric Research, 2019, 114, 161-169.

Gershenson, Seth, and Erdal Tekin, "The effect of community traumatic events on student achievement: Evidence from the beltway sniper attacks," Education Finance and Policy, 2018, 13 (4), 513-544.

Goldstein, Sam, and Robert B. Brooks, Resilience in Children, Springer, 2005.

Heissel, Jennifer A., Patrick T. Sharkey, Gerard Torrats-Espinosa, Kathryn Grant, and Emma K. Adam, "Violence and vigilance: The acute effects of community violent crime on sleep and cortisol," Child Development, 2018, 89 (4), e323-e331.

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Sharkey, Patrick, "The acute effect of local homicides on children's cognitive performance," ," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2010, 107 (26), 11733-11738.

Sharkey, Patrick, "The long reach of violence: A broader perspective on data, theory, and evidence on the prevalence and consequences of exposure to violence," Annual Review of Criminology, 2018, 1, 85-102.

Sharkey, Patrick, Amy Ellen Schwartz, Ingrid Gould Ellen, and Johanna Lacoe, "High stakes in the classroom, high stakes on the street: The effects of community violence on student's standardized test performance," Sociological Science, 2014, 1, 199.

Sharkey, Patrick T., Nicole Tirado-Strayer, Andrew V. Papachristos, and C. Cybele Raver, "The effect of local violence on children's attention and impulse control," American Journal of Public Health, 2012, 102 (12), 2287-2293.

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Surviving a school shooting: Impacts on the mental health, education, and earnings of American youth

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More than 100,000 American children attended a school at which a shooting took place in 2018 and 2019. Research indicates a higher rate of antidepressant use among those exposed to a school shooting in the years following the gun violence. School shootings lead to drops in student enrollment and a decline in average test scores.

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In this updated collection of research, scholars find that student achievement falls after school shootings and enrollment drops as some families leave the area.

This collection of research on U.S. school shootings, originally published in February 2018, has been updated with new data and resources plus summaries of two new papers on how school shootings affect student achievement and campus enrollment.
Nine people died and another 48 have been injured in school shootings across the U.S. this year, according to Education Week's 2021 School Shooting Tracker. It shows that the Nov. 30 shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan is the deadliest since May 2018, when police say a Texas student armed with a revolver and a shotgun killed eight students and two teachers at a high school near Houston.

As journalists rush to collect facts, they try to put these events into context, focusing, for example, on questions about local gun policies and how the communities involved are grappling with the sudden deaths of children, teachers and athletic coaches.

Long after news crews leave, though, those who witnessed these tragedies will bear their consequences. Extensive research suggests that exposure to violence can hurt children's health and well-being for years into the future. It also can desensitize them - violence, in their eyes, becomes an acceptable way to handle problems, researchers explain.

Below, we've pulled together research that looks at other consequences that might seem less obvious to reporters covering the issue. These studies offer insights into how student performance and enrollment can fall following a shooting on campus.

We also included resources aimed at helping journalists improve their coverage of school shootings, including tips on interviewing children and an explainer on firearm technology and vocabulary.
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The Effects of Campus Shooting on School Finance and Student Composition: From George Washington University and Pennsylvania State University, published in Education Finance and Policy, 2021. By Lang "Kate" Yang and Maithreyi Gopalan.

This 44-page paper, based on an analysis of all shootings at U.S. public schools between 1999 and 2018, provides "the first causal estimates of campus shootings on [school] district finance, staffing, and student composition on a national scale," the researchers write.

The main takeaways:

School shootings are associated with increased spending of $248 per pupil, on average. Schools spend this money primarily on capital projects such as building repairs and security upgrades and on student support services such as mental health and psychological services.

The average number of teachers per 100 students remains unchanged, confirming prior research indicating "shootings do not lead to a crowd-out of instructional resources." The number of guidance counselors rises temporarily, during the first year or two after a shooting.

Student enrollment at local public and private schools drops after a school shooting as higher-income families leave the area. The researchers note that the resulting shift in student demographics "could exacerbate existing disparities across schools and intensify socioeconomic segregation."

Trauma at School: The Impacts of Shootings on Students' Human Capital and Economic Outcomes: From the University of Texas at Austin, Stanford University and Northwestern University, a working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research, 2021. By Marika Cabral, Bokyung Kim, Maya Rossin-Slater, Molly Schnell and Hannes Schwandt.

Researchers studied public school shootings in Texas to gauge their impact on students' education and future job earnings. They focus on the 33 shootings that took place on school grounds during school hours between the 1995-1996 and 2015-2016 academic years. The resulting paper offers "the first comprehensive analysis of the short- and long-run impacts of an increasingly common source of exposure to violence among children: shootings at schools."

The analysis suggests:

Children who attend public schools where a shooting occurred are, on average, 1.8 percentage points more likely to be chronically absent than kids at similar schools that have had no shootings. Students exposed to school shootings are 1.3 percentage points more likely to repeat a grade, on average.

High school sophomores and juniors at schools where shootings took place are 2.9 percentage points less likely to graduate high school when compared with students in the same grades who attend similar schools without shootings. They're also 5.5 percentage points less likely to enroll in a four-year college, on average.

Students exposed to a school shooting in grades 9 through 11 are 4.4 percentage points less likely to have jobs when they reach age 24 to 26, and their average annual earnings are $2,779.84 lower. "This estimate," the researchers write, "implies a $115,550 reduction in the present discounted value of lifetime earnings per shooting-exposed student."

The Relationships Between Violence in Childhood and Educational Outcomes: A Global Systematic Review and Meta-analysis: From the University of Edinburgh, China Agricultural University, Georgia State University and the Centre for Population Health Sciences, published in Child Abuse & Neglect, 2018. By Deborah Fry, Xiangming Fang, Stuart Elliott, Tabitha Casey, Xiaodong Zheng, Jiaoyuan Li, Lani Florian and Gillean McCluskey.

This research article examines dozens of studies from 21 countries to understand the relationship between different types of violence in childhood and a range of education-related outcomes such as academic performance, absenteeism and graduation and dropout rates. The study finds that all types of childhood violence have an impact. For example, children who experience physical violence are 20 percent less likely to graduate. Children who experience any type of violence are less likely to earn high grades and test scores.

The Effect of Community Traumatic Events on Student Achievement: Evidence from the Beltway Sniper Attacks: From American University, published in Education Finance and Policy, May 2017. By Seth Gershenson and Erdal Tekin.

This study looks at how traumatic events such as mass shootings affect the performance of students living in the community where the events occurred. Gershenson and Tekin focused specifically on how elementary school students in Virginia performed on standardized tests after the "Beltway Sniper" attacks of 2002. "The main results indicate that the attacks significantly reduced school-level proficiency rates in schools within five miles of an attack. Evidence of a causal effect is most robust for math proficiency rates in the third and fifth grades, and third grade reading proficiency, suggesting that the shootings caused a decline in school proficiency rates of about 2 to 5 percent. Particularly concerning from an equity standpoint, these effects appear to be entirely driven by achievement declines in schools that serve higher proportions of racial minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged students."

The Effect of High School Shootings on Schools and Student Performance: From Louisiana State University and University of Missouri, published in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, March 2016. By Louis-Philippe Beland and Dongwoo Kim.

This study suggests that high schools where fatal shootings have occurred experience a 5.8 percent drop in freshmen enrollment, on average, following the event. The researchers also examined standardized test scores in California and found that scores in math and English declined for students who remain enrolled after the shooting. Beland and Kim did not find statistically significant impacts on graduation or suspension rates or student attendance.

School Shootings and Private School Enrollment: From the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, published in Economics Letters, February 2013. By Rahi Abouk and Scott Adams.

This study finds that school shootings increase enrollment at private high schools, particularly in suburban and rural areas. The researchers looked at enrollment at public and private high schools nationwide between 1998 and 2009 and matched that data with school shooting reports. Private school enrollments increased an estimated 9.7-11.6 percent in the academic year immediately following a shooting. Meanwhile, public school enrollment fell an estimated 0.4-1.3 percent. "Parents overestimate the potential for such events to be repeated, particularly those that occur in suburban and rural areas, because of intense media coverage," the authors write.
Other resources: Photo by Fabrice Florin obtained from Flickr and used under a Creative Commons license.

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How school shootings hurt student achievement and enrollment

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In this updated collection of research, scholars find that student achievement falls after school shootings and enrollment drops as some families leave the area. This collection of research on U.S. school shootings, originally published in February 2018, has been updated with new data and resources plus summaries of two new papers on how school shootings affect student achievement and campus enrollment.

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‘This Is Not the Job We Signed Up to Do’: Teachers Speak Out Against School Shootings

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The largest teachers’ union is taking new steps to confront gun violence in schools.

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How the Rise In Mass Shootings at Schools Is Contributing to Nationwide Teacher Shortages

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The rise in mass shootings at schools is contributing to nationwide teacher shortages. Learn how to create a safer school environment.

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Read 144 reviews from the world’s largest community for readers. Best friends Matt and Cole grapple with their changing relationships during the summer aft…

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Ramon Benavides, 2022's Texas Teacher of the Year, choked up, clutching his infant son as his mind raced with thoughts of the recent mass shootings in his home state.

From the attack at an El Paso Walmart in 2019 to the Uvalde school massacre, the tragedies conjure up unimaginable fears felt not only by parents -- but by teachers.

"I can't even find the words to really explain how I'm feeling," Benavides said. "I held him [his son] super tight because many parents, teachers involved, you know, they're, they're not coming back to their families and their families aren't aren't going to be able to embrace their loved ones as I did with my little boy last night. And it's painful, it's hurtful, and like I said, it's just so many emotions just going on."

The El Paso educator said he is devastated by the killing of 19 children and two of their teachers at Robb Elementary School. The shocking news struck his "soul," he said, and he is having trouble making sense of it.

"I've lived across Texas, so this is something that just hits us all," he told ABC News. "It kind of leaves you breathless, it's like a punch to the gut."
Teachers' mental health
Having to deal with school shootings is just one of the factors taking a toll on teachers' mental health.

Educators cite a range of emotions, including anxiety and sadness during a pandemic -- now in its third year -- as reasons more than half of them plan to leave their chosen profession, according to a survey from the National Education Association. While burnout is a primary cause teachers want out of the classroom, now some are haunted by fears that they, their families and their students now won't be safe --- even at school.

In the almost 10 years since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, there have been more than 900 school shootings, according to the gun violence prevention organization Sandy Hook Promise and the Center for Homeland Defense and Security . The attack in Uvalde is the latest in a long series of acts of gun violence terrorizing students and teachers alike. Last year, there were 42 acts of campus gun violence at K-12 schools in the U.S.

"Mental health in this country is already bad with the pandemic," Lee Perez, Nebraska's 2022 Teacher of the Year, told ABC News. The Uvalde shooting, he said, "is only going to make it worse."

He knows how the pressures can push teachers to their limits. Perez dealt with anxiety and depression due to stress from the pandemic and how the spread of COVID-19 disproportionately affected marginalized minority communities.

Teachers' job-related stress levels and symptoms of depression were higher than most employed adults, according to Rand Corporation's 2021 State of the U.S. Teacher Survey. A recent poll of over 3,000 National Education Association (NEA) members emphasized over 90% of educators believe stress is a serious issue.

Dr. Christine Crawford, associate medical director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said that exposure to horrific events like the Uvalde shooting "can elicit symptoms that are consistent with a trauma response, almost."

She explained that after hearing or reading about events like a mass shooting, people may notice they are more on edge or irritable and may experience other symptoms such as difficulty sleeping or concentrating. These symptoms, Crawford said, may present after repeated exposure to similar events, even if someone didn't experience the trauma firsthand.

"We do know that there is this phenomenon known as vicarious trauma," Crawford explained. "So, just hearing about a traumatic event, you can almost imagine yourself in that sort of scenario and that can further kind of exacerbate some of the symptoms that I just described."

It highlights, she said, that even in a small community, "you don't fully know each and every person and what it is that they're capable of. And so this kind of sense of safety within the community can certainly be threatened."

Benavides says he's taking it "day-by-day." But Perez, his state's first Latinx and English as a Second Language (ESL) recipient of the top teacher honor, said the shooting in Uvalde also hit close to home.

"These beautiful brown babies [were] just murdered in cold blood," he said. Adding, "it puts people of color ... puts us on pins and needles."

Perez had his first child at the beginning of this month. He tearfully discussed "strategizing" to protect his baby girl, Natalia, if Congress doesn't pass universal background checks or mental health red flag laws.

"It really adds to that anxiety that has been brought on by all the stuff that's happened two years ago," Perez said. "As educators, we always tell families, communities and our students, 'you are safe at school,' but then this happens, and then the question becomes, well, 'are students safe at school? Is anybody safe at school?'"
'It scares you,' one teacher said
Teachers have faced mental health struggles throughout the pandemic that initially shuttered schools and has upended education over the last two years. Their fears of contracting a deadly virus, combatting a nationwide staffing and substitute shortage and increasing demands on their time have made a tough profession -- even harder.

"Teachers are doing amazing work, and they are providing work during a very challenging time. They already had to provide support - to teach kids during a pandemic, and then to have these events happen, can be further traumatizing for some of our teachers," Crawford said. "And so we certainly do need to have compassion for these teachers, empathy for these teachers, because they really have been faced with a tremendous amount of stress and trauma over the last few years."

Experts have been monitoring the effects of the pandemic on the mental health of Americans over the last two years. Since April 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been documenting self-reported symptoms of anxiety and depression, using Household Pulse Surveys. These metrics, compared with similar data collected in 2019, show a dramatic increase in symptoms.

Colorado's Autumn Rivera was a 2022 finalist for the national teacher of the year award who says she considered seeking mental health counseling at her school after the Uvalde shooting. With the school year ending, Rivera is taking time to process her feelings because she can't accept the fact that many of those slain were Latinx.

"Those are my students," Rivera said, comparing the population she teaches to the students at Robb Elementary. "That is me and those two teachers, you know, very similar backgrounds, very similar situations, and it just broke my heart."

For now, Perez struggles with the notion of when this might happen again, advocating for Congress to enact sweeping gun reform that could prevent future attacks on schools. Ultimately, he hopes his daughter has a safer future than today's students who do lockdown and active shooting drills.

"It scares you," he said. "Where is it safe? The fact that you have to ask that question scares, not just teachers, but everybody."
The National Alliance on Mental Illness HelpLine offers resources and support to people experiencing mental health struggles. The HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. - 10 p.m., ET at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or helpline@nami.org. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available toll-free, 24/7, to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress at 1-800-273-8255. Editor's note: A previous version of this article stated Lee Perez was "expecting his first child." Over the weekend, Perez and his wife, Mariana, welcomed their baby girl, Natalia Lilliana Perez.

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Teachers face mental health challenges dealing with school shootings

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Ramon Benavides, 2022's Texas Teacher of the Year, choked up, clutching his infant son as his mind raced with thoughts of the recent mass shootings in his home state. From the attack at an El Paso Walmart in 2019 to the Uvalde school massacre, the tragedies conjure up unimaginable fears felt not only by parents -- but by teachers.

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As a 65 year old grandfather, I read books that have interesting characters, compelling stories, and situations I can care about, all wrapped up in aAs a 65 year old grandfather, I read books that have interesting characters, compelling stories, and situations I can care about, all wrapped up in a storytelling style that keeps me turning pages.

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Parents are worried about school shootings

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Parents are divided along political affiliation and gender when asked how to prevent these tragedies, with mothers, Hispanic parents, and low-income parents the most concerned.

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Parents’ and Children’s Concern About Mass Shootings

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Delve into research findings and perspectives on the impact of mass shootings on children’s mental health and well-being.

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School Shootings

It is difficult for most of us to understand how anyone-- regardless of their age, relationships, or grievance-- could shoot a child or youth, especially on school grounds.

The most common shootings on school grounds rarely involve large numbers of victims, but even a shooting of just one student at school has ramifications far beyond those directly involved. Students and staff that witness school shootings are likely to suffer from traumatic stress symptoms, become anxious or depressed and have general concerns about their safety. While many witnesses will have temporary symptoms, others will be symptomatic for a much longer period of time and even develop chronic psychiatric disorders. Even short-term impairments can cause severe distress and have profound effects on academic achievement and the social and emotional growth of impacted students.

Perhaps the most disturbing effects of school shootings are the feeling of on-going danger that permeates schools where they have occurred. The school's climate and sense of community are profoundly damaged.

Smaller scale shootings tend to occur in schools in neighborhoods already besieged by violence and where schools are commonly viewed as a "safe haven" within more dangerous areas. When external violence invades the school, the community loses that safe sanctuary for learning and camaraderie.

In addition, the effects of school shootings go beyond the schools and those attending or working there. Regardless of whether a shooting occurs in a community with high crime and violence or in a community that is historically safe and stable, school shootings have lasting ramifications for each family and also impact relationships among community members including parents, the school, law enforcement, and local government.

This section provides you with basic facts, describes the complex set of factors that commonly contribute to mass shootings, and suggests ways to address them in the United States-- with a goal that we all work together to develop and implement comprehensive effective strategies that will reduce the toll of these tragic events.

Recommended Resources

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This section provides basic facts about the complex set of factors that contribute to school shootings and the effects of school shootings.

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The Mental Health Effects of School Shootings : Institute for Policy Research - Northwestern University

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A new study finds that the use of prescription drugs to treat mental health conditions, including depression and anxiety, increased by over 25% among youth living near fatal school shootings. Five and a half years later, the use of these medications remained high. Conducted by IPR economists Molly Schnell and Hannes Schwandt with Northwestern graduate student Max Pienkny and Stanford professor Maya Rossin-Slater, the study points to the ways school shootings continue to affect students’ mental health years later.