The rise of school shootings and other related attacks in Brazil
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Roza T
PROVIDER: S-EPMC10990733 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:The United States has experienced a tragic increase in school shootings in recent years. Despite substantial media attention being paid to such incidents and widespread support for stricter gun control measures, substantial legislative action remains absent, however. To make sense of this puzzle, this paper focuses on the mobilizing responses of gun rights supporters in the aftermath of such events. Using granular data from 225,000 donations to the NRA's political action committee in a difference-in-differences design, this study provides causal estimates showing substantial increases in both donation amounts and donor numbers after school shootings. These results provide insight into the counter-mobilizing responses of the pro-gun political right after shootings. In contrast to the typically transient nature of gun control movements, these counter-mobilizing responses are notably durable. The results of this study have important implications for our understanding of the complexities of, and obstacles to, gun regulation in the United States.
| S-EPMC10846846 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundSeveral past studies have found that media reports of suicides and homicides appear to subsequently increase the incidence of similar events in the community, apparently due to the coverage planting the seeds of ideation in at-risk individuals to commit similar acts.MethodsHere we explore whether or not contagion is evident in more high-profile incidents, such as school shootings and mass killings (incidents with four or more people killed). We fit a contagion model to recent data sets related to such incidents in the US, with terms that take into account the fact that a school shooting or mass murder may temporarily increase the probability of a similar event in the immediate future, by assuming an exponential decay in contagiousness after an event.ConclusionsWe find significant evidence that mass killings involving firearms are incented by similar events in the immediate past. On average, this temporary increase in probability lasts 13 days, and each incident incites at least 0.30 new incidents (p = 0.0015). We also find significant evidence of contagion in school shootings, for which an incident is contagious for an average of 13 days, and incites an average of at least 0.22 new incidents (p = 0.0001). All p-values are assessed based on a likelihood ratio test comparing the likelihood of a contagion model to that of a null model with no contagion. On average, mass killings involving firearms occur approximately every two weeks in the US, while school shootings occur on average monthly. We find that state prevalence of firearm ownership is significantly associated with the state incidence of mass killings with firearms, school shootings, and mass shootings.
| S-EPMC4489652 | biostudies-literature
Project description: Not available
| S-EPMC10807037 | biostudies-literature
Project description: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. Our empirical strategy compares the number of antidepressant prescriptions written by providers practicing 0 to 5 miles from a school that experienced a shooting (treatment areas) to the number of prescriptions written by providers practicing 10 to 15 miles away (reference areas), both before and after the shooting. We include month-by-year and school-by-area fixed effects in all specifications, thereby controlling for overall trends in antidepressant use and all time-invariant differences across locations. We find that local exposure to fatal school shootings increases youth antidepressant use by 21.4% in the following 2 y. These effects are smaller in areas with a higher density of mental health providers who focus on behavioral, rather than pharmacological, interventions.
| S-EPMC7519390 | biostudies-literature
Project description:PurposeModerate and severe COPD exacerbations are a significant health-care burden, but patients also experience "mild" exacerbations, or COPD symptom-related attacks, which often go unreported. We aimed to define and then determine the incidence of COPD symptom-related attacks and their impact on future risk of moderate/severe exacerbations, health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and lung function. The effect of COPD maintenance therapy on the attack definition was then evaluated by comparing budesonide/formoterol with formoterol alone.Patients and methodsThis post hoc analysis of the RISE study defined COPD symptom-related attacks as ≥2 consecutive days of both worsening symptoms and increased daily rescue medication use based upon thresholds of >2 and >4 short-acting β2-agonist (SABA) inhalations/day above baseline. The impact of these events on subsequent moderate/severe exacerbation risk was estimated using a time-varying Cox proportional hazards model. The effects of COPD symptom-related attacks on St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) total score and pre-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) were evaluated as average changes from baseline to first post-attack measurement. Rates of attacks were compared between treatment groups using negative binomial regression models.ResultsCOPD symptom-related attacks elevated the risk of subsequent moderate/severe exacerbations at both >2 and >4 inhalations/day above baseline (HR 1.86 and 2.21, respectively; p<0.0001), with a cumulative increase in risk with increasing attacks. HRQoL and lung function were reduced for patients with ≥1 versus no COPD symptom-related attacks at both rescue medication thresholds. There were fewer COPD symptom-related attacks with budesonide/formoterol versus formoterol alone, with no increased risk of pneumonia and lower respiratory tract infections.ConclusionCOPD symptom-related attacks are common and typically unreported. Importantly, these attacks can account for considerable morbidity and should not be regarded as "mild". Detection of such exacerbations may be valuable in identifying patients at greater risk and guiding preventive therapeutic interventions.
| S-EPMC7708268 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe psychological impact on survivors of terrorism has been well documented. However, studies on adolescent survivors and the academic performance of high school students following a terrorist attack are lacking.ObjectiveThis study investigated academic performance, absenteeism, and school support amongst survivors of a terrorist attack in Norway.MethodData from a longitudinal interview study were linked to officially registered grades of students (N=64) who successfully completed their 3-year senior high school program. Statistical tests of mean differences and linear regression were used to compare the survivors' registered grades with the national grade point average, before and after the event, as well as to assess absenteeism, self-reported grades and to test the association with school support.ResultsThe students' grades were lower the year after the event than they had been the year before, and they were also lower than the national grade point average (p<0.001). However, their grades improved in the last year of high school, indicating possible recovery. Absence from school increased after the event, compared to the previous year. However, students reported high satisfaction with school support.ConclusionThe results indicate that academic functioning was reduced in the year after the traumatic event, but for students who successfully completed high school, the school situation improved 2 years after the event. The findings underscore the importance of keeping trauma-exposed students in school and providing support over time. A more defined educational approach to maintaining school attendance and educational measures which compensate for learning loss are needed in trauma-sensitive teaching.
| S-EPMC4864847 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ImportanceThe prevalence of internalizing problems among US adolescents has risen in the past decade. The extent to which concerns about school violence or shootings are associated with risk of internalizing problems is unknown.ObjectiveTo examine the prospective association of concern, worry, and stress related to school violence or shootings with internalizing problems and to examine sex and racial and ethnic differences in the magnitude of the associations.Design, setting, and participantsThis longitudinal cohort study involved 3 surveys administered 6 months apart (fall of grade 11 [prebaseline]; spring of grade 11 [baseline]; and fall of grade 12 [follow-up]) from 2015 to 2016. Participants included 2263 students from 10 high schools in Los Angeles, California. Analyses were performed from April 29, 2020, to April 8, 2021.ExposuresBaseline self-reported level of concern, worry, and stress about shootings or violence at the student's school or other schools, each rated on 5-point scales (ranging from not at all [0] to extremely [4]) with a mean score calculated as a 3-item composite index rescaled into z-score standard deviation units.Main outcomes and measuresSurpassing clinically significant or borderline significant thresholds for major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, or panic disorder based on symptom ratings on the Revised Children's Anxiety and Depression Scale at 6-month follow-up.ResultsOf the 2263 students included in the analyses (1250 [55.2%] girls; mean [SD] age, 16.5 [0.4] years), appreciable proportions reported being very or extremely concerned (850 0f 2226 [38.2%]), worried (703 of 2209 [31.8%]), or stressed (332 of 2183 [15.2%]) about shootings or violence at their school or other schools. After adjusting for prebaseline covariates, concerns about school violence or shootings were associated with clinically significant generalized anxiety symptoms (odds ratio [OR], 1.31; 95% CI, 1.15-1.50) and panic symptoms (OR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.05-1.32), but not depressive symptoms (OR, 1.13; 95% CI, 0.99-1.30) at the 6-month follow-up. There was a significant association between concern with school violence or shootings and depressive symptoms for Black youth (OR, 3.15; 95% CI, 1.38-7.19) and non-Hispanic/Latinx White youth (OR, 1.62 [95% CI, 1.25-2.09]) but not for youth of other races and ethnicities (OR for Asian, 1.26 [95% CI, 0.86-1.85]; OR for Hispanic/Latinx, 0.94 [95% CI, 0.76-1.16]; OR for other, 0.93 [95% CI, 0.54-1.61]). Sex did not moderate these associations.Conclusions and relevanceThe findings of this study suggest that concern, worry, and stress related to school violence or shootings may be risk factors for internalizing problems among adolescents, with variation in the strength of the association by race/ethnicity.
| S-EPMC8561324 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundAthletes put their health at short- and long-term risk and a detailed investigation of health outcomes is important because it should allow the development of more specific interventions. This study aimed to evaluate the health-related determinants of eating pattern of high school athletes.MethodsThe study enrolled 248 Brazilian athletes aged 14-20 years. Eating pattern outcomes included skipping breakfast, vegetable and fruit consumption, and sweets consumption. The following factors were considered as independent variables: sociodemographic, economic, anthropometry, body weight control, psychosocial, sedentary behavior, sleeping time, meals, alcohol and smoking, and strength variables. Data were analyzed using Poisson regression model and the effect measure was the prevalence ratio (PR).ResultsThe results showed that 45.6% of the athletes skipped breakfast, 29.8% ate sweets regularly, and only 8.9% consumed vegetables and fruit regularly. Multiple analysis revealed the following positive associations: breakfast skipping and vomiting or using laxatives to lose weight (PR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.01-1.26); low fruit and vegetable consumption and using pills to lose weight (PR, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.02-1.07); high sweets consumption and female athletes (PR, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.12-1.55); high sweets consumption and more than 2 h spent watching TV (PR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.02-1.39).ConclusionsOur findings indicated that sociodemographic, body weight control and sedentary factors are determinants on eating patterns of high school athletes.
| S-EPMC7066817 | biostudies-literature
Project description: Not available
| S-EPMC3937275 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionBreast cancer is the most common cause of cancer death among women.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to analyze time trends in overall mortality from breast cancer in Brazil, Brazilian regions and States.MethodsThis is an exploratory study, of the time series of deaths from breast cancer contained in the Mortality Information System (SIM), of women living in Brazil, Brazilian regions and States, from 1996 to 2013. For the trend analysis, the polynomial regression model was used, and a significant trend was considered when the estimated model obtained a p value <0.05.ResultsThere was a tendency of increased mortality from breast cancer in Brazilian women (average increase of 0.18 per year; p <0.001), with regional differences, particularly in the age group 20-49 years (0.07 per year; p <0.001). The age group 50-69 years remained constant but had high average rates (37.14).ConclusionMore effective planning is needed to focus on the different scenarios of the Brazilian regions. Screening strategies for the incidence and mortality from breast cancer must also be rethought according to age group in the country.
| S-EPMC5207532 | biostudies-literature