Research on firearm purchaser licensing laws has found population level reductions in firearm-related mortality. Limited research has been conducted specifically examining the impact of these laws among adolescents and emerging adults. We obtained death data from the National Center for Health Statistics from 1990 to 2019. We generated state-year…

Gun violence is a significant public health issue. The U.S. has more than one mass shooting a day in which four or more people are injured or killed. However, mass shootings are only the tip of the iceberg of gun violence. Among developed nations, the U.S. is an outlier in both gun possession and gun deaths. Gun deaths affect not only the victim…

This study uses open source information to examine school shootings in the United States for the 1990-2016 period. We innovatively created a national-level database to address the gaps in existing research and identified 652 school shootings. These shootings included 473 intentional shootings (encompassing 354 with known offenders and 119 with…

The needs of a school community following the death of a student or staff member are not something every educator and/or school administrator may be prepared to address. Multidisciplinary crisis response teams, particularly those operating at the district level, are equipped to respond to such situations rapidly and effectively. School…

Objective: Education abroad can be perceived as riskier for student health/safety than domestic study, but little data exists to test this assumption. We investigated one facet of student safety by comparing college student mortality rates occurring during educational programs abroad with rates occurring on U.S. campuses. Methods: Two insurers…

National trends indicate a need for continued crisis interventions, specifically for online settings. The purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of crisis frequency and preparedness of online educators. This research is needed to provide guidelines for detecting and responding to crisis to meet the educational needs of students in a safe…

Background: The United States has more than 90% of all youth firearm deaths that occur in high-income countries. Purpose: We summarize the epidemiological literature on the prevalence, risk factors, and protective factors associated with adolescent homicides and suicides and the role of firearms in the loss of these lives. Methods: A systematic…

This updated and expanded new edition continues the theme of the second edition that presents a framework by which the reader can gain a broader and deeper understanding of the issues involved with campus violence incidents. In order to understand the current state of campus violence, two sources of information must be considered--the factual and…

Post-secondary institutions across North America have noticed a concerning trend in terms of increased student mental health crises on campuses. Consequently, many colleges and universities have been working to develop responsive and comprehensive mental health frameworks. While broad studies have illuminated the high rates of student mental…

This pilot study from self-selected institutions of higher education provides an estimate of the causes and rates of mortality among college students between the ages of 18 and 24 years old. One hundred fifty-seven 4-year colleges participated in an online survey of student deaths during one academic year. A total of 254 deaths were reported. The…

This study examined patterns of making meaning among 155 parents whose children died from a variety of violent and non-violent causes. Findings indicated 53% of violent loss survivors could not make sense of their loss, as compared to 32% of non-violent loss survivors. Overall, there was overlap in sense-making strategies across different causes…

Risk of suicide in people who have perpetrated specific forms of violent or sexual criminal offenses has not been quantified accurately or precisely. Also, gender comparisons have not been possible due to sparse data problems in the smaller studies that have been conducted to date. We therefore aimed to estimate these effects in the whole Danish…

The focus of the present article is on the health of adolescents, born in one of the most dramatic periods of Russian history, at the beginning of the 1990s, a period characterized by a worsening of the conditions of life, a breakdown of the established stereotypes, social stratification, an upsurge of corruption, and the moral degradation of…

Provoking police officers to kill oneself or "suicide by cop" (SBC) has received scholarly as well as public attention. The extent to which film representations of SBC reflect SBC in society in relation to danger, depression, and other features was assessed in this study. Data on cinematic portrayals of SBC are from 16 American films;…

Objectives: This research aimed to identify incidents of mothers in Italy killing their own children and to test an adaptive evolutionary hypothesis to explain their occurrence. Methods: 110 cases of mothers killing 123 of their own offspring from 1976 to 2010 were analyzed. Each case was classified using 13 dichotomic variables. Descriptive…