Abstract
Gun violence persists as a devastating public health crisis in the United States. Each year, an estimated 1,600 children die from gun violence, another 6,200 survive gunshot injuries, and thousands more are indirectly impacted (e.g., children who have witnessed gunfire, heard gunshots, or know a friend or family member who has been shot). Though there is notably little research in the area of gun violence prevention in comparison to other public health issues of this magnitude, the existing research underscores the breadth of childhood exposure to gun violence and its direct relationship to poor mental health outcomes. This section ends with a discussion of the implications of this relationship for clinicians and educators: individuals engaged in the prevention of and response to gun violence exposure and, by extension, the promotion of the mental health and well-being of children.
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Further Reading
Borum, R., Cornell, D. G., Modzeleski, W., & Jimerson, S. R. (2010). What can be done about school shootings?: A review of the evidence. Educational Researcher, 39(1), 27–37.
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Myers, D., Müller, T., Rajan, S. (2021). Gun Violence. In: Lester, J.N., O'Reilly, M. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Critical Perspectives on Mental Health. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12852-4_58-1
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