Local Exposure to School Shootings and Youth Antidepressant Use

Maya Rossin-Slater, Molly Schnell, Hannes Schwandt, Sam Trejo and Lindsey Uniat

No 26563, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: 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.

JEL-codes: I18 I31 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea, nep-neu and nep-ure
Note: CH EH LS PE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Published as Maya Rossin-Slater & Molly Schnell & Hannes Schwandt & Sam Trejo & Lindsey Uniat, 2020. "Local exposure to school shootings and youth antidepressant use," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol 117(38), pages 23484-23489.

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Journal Article: Local exposure to school shootings and youth antidepressant use (2020)
Working Paper: Local Exposure to School Shootings and Youth Antidepressant Use (2019)
Working Paper: Local Exposure to School Shootings and Youth Antidepressant Use (2019)
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