This study investigates the impact of school shooter drills on the psychological well-being of American K-12 school communities using machine learning and interrupted time series analysis of 54 million social media posts from 114 schools across 33 states. Results show a 39-42% increase in anxiety, stress, and depression following drills, but also a 10-106% increase in civic engagement. These findings, coupled with a lack of strong evidence supporting the life-saving effectiveness of drills, suggest that proactive school safety strategies may be more effective and less detrimental to mental health.
Publisher
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
Published On
Dec 08, 2021
Authors
Mai ElSherief, Koustuv Saha, Pranshu Gupta, Shrija Mishra, Jordyn Seybolt, Jiajia Xie, Megan O'Toole, Sarah Burd-Sharps, Munmun De Choudhury
Tags
school shooter drills
psychological well-being
anxiety
civic engagement
machine learning
social media analysis
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