Contextual Factors Associated With Different Forms of School Gun Violence: An Analysis of 1,238 Incidents

• In Event: Innovations in School Violence Prevention and Intervention

Abstract

Scholars theorize that the nature of school gun violence varies across school settings. This study investigates contextual factors associated with six types of school gun incidents (n = 1,238) over a forty-year period (1980-2019) in the United States. School, community, and state-level data were linked school gun incidents in the School Shootings Database. Main findings indicate that gun incidents arising from school-related conflicts and suicides are more likely in high schools. Large cities, midsize cities, and suburbs have more school gun violence driven by criminal activity, whereas school gun violence from suicide and indiscriminate school shootings is more likely in rural schools. This study raises questions about the focus of gun violence prevention strategies for schools in different settings.

Author

• Daniel Hamlin, University of Oklahoma