From depression to youth school gun carrying in America: Social connectedness may help break the link

Abstract

School shootings are a serious US problem. Except for restricting the access to firearms, previous research has not identified mediating factors that block the pathway leading from adolescent depression to gun carrying and violence. Our examination of 1,878 adolescents in Boston public schools finds that adolescent depression is associated with carrying guns to school and that social connectedness—positive relationships between the youth and adults—may serve as a mediator between adolescent depression and taking guns to school. Parallel to gun control policy, reinforcing social connectedness may be an effective strategy to prevent mentally distressed youths from taking guns to school.

Keywords:

• school gun carrying
• adolescent depression
• prevention
• social connectedness

Public Interest Statement

School shooting is a serious threat to campus safety. However, little is known about why adolescent depression is linked to gun carrying at school. By examining 1,878 adolescent students in Boston, the study finds that depressed students are three times more likely to carry a gun than those not depressed; but such risk can be reduced by positive relationships between the youth and supportive adults. In addition to gun control policies and early treatment for depression, enhancing the social connectedness between depressed adolescents and supportive adults may break this link.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their appreciation to the dedicated educators in Boston public schools who so generously assisted in the implementation of the 2008 Boston Youth Survey.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shao-Chiu Juan

Shao-Chiu Juan is a graduate researcher at the School of Criminal Justice, University at Albany. He received his MPH from Harvard School of Public Health, and his MA from the School of Criminal Justice, University at Albany. In 2014 he was invited by the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control to evaluate nationwide violence prevention initiatives. His research mainly focuses on criminology and the prevention of youth violence.

David Hemenway

David Hemenway is the director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center as well as a professor at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He received his PhD at Harvard University in 1974. He has written widely on injury prevention, including articles on firearms, suicide, child abuse, and violence. In 2012 he was recognized by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) as one of the “twenty most influential injury and violence professionals over the past twenty years.”