Active Shooter Drills in the United States: A National Study of Youth Experiences and Perceptions

The purpose of this study was to understand youth experience and opinion surrounding active shooter drills. MyVoice is a national text message poll of the youth ages 14–24 years that collects youth opinion on salient policy issues. Participants are recruited to meet national benchmarks. Five open-en...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of adolescent health 2020-10, Vol.67 (4), p.509-513
Main Authors: Moore-Petinak, N'dea, Waselewski, Marika, Patterson, Blaire Alma, Chang, Tammy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Averages
Data
Emotional distress
Emotions
Policy analysis
Psychological distress
Secondary schools
Shootings
Teenagers
Young adults
Youth
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The purpose of this study was to understand youth experience and opinion surrounding active shooter drills. MyVoice is a national text message poll of the youth ages 14–24 years that collects youth opinion on salient policy issues. Participants are recruited to meet national benchmarks. Five open-ended probes were posed to participants on August 2, 2019. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis; quantitative data were summarized using descriptive statistics. Among respondents (815 of 1283; 63.5%), the average age was 18.7 years (SD = 2.9). Most were girls (52.9%), non-white (42.8%), and with < high school diploma (56.9%). Responses centered around three themes: drill methods vary, active shooter drills cause emotional distress, and youth perceive drills to have questionable benefit. The majority (60.2%) mentioned that drills make them feel “scared and hopeless,” but many (56.1%) also noted drills “teach kids on what to do.” Others (24%) stated drills do not improve safety because they inform potential shooters or are ineffective because “people will likely panic, forgetting their drill.” Many youth report that active shooter drills have a negative effect on their emotional health and are conflicted on their effectiveness.
ISSN:1054-139X
1879-1972
DOI:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.06.015