Dear esteemed colleague:
This letter alerts you to studies pertinent to our research on school violence. This
author used the Jerry Falwell Library to search for empirical peer-reviewed journal
articles using three keywords: school, violence, and shooting. The search netted
two articles of interest, and this author summarizes those articles below. a
In the first journal article, David Pina Lopez (2022) published a study in the
International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology comparing attitudes
toward violence and violent behavior. Lopez (2022) engaged in this research to
discover if attitudes toward violence correlated to violent behavior in school.
Using a meta-analysis research method, Lopez (2022) reviewed 26 independent
sample studies with a sample participant size of 20,284. Lopez's (2022) meta-
analysis variables of interest were attitudes toward violence and violent behavior
in school. It appears that Lopez (2022) used Pearson's coefficient of correlation (r
=.368 (95% CI [.323, .412], p < .0001)) to the magnitude and direction of the
correlation. Lopez (2022) concluded that attitudes toward violence and violent
school behavior correlated significantly.
The second journal article addressed whether or not gun ownership was related to
school shootings. A group of researchers led by Paul M. Reeping, Louis Klarevas,
Sonali Rejan (2022) compared 232 school shootings to a restrictiveness-
permissiveness scale of state gun laws. They attempted to answer the question:
do certain states experience school shootings because of permissive gun laws?
The researchers used regression analysis to analyze the variables of gun laws and
school shootings. The researchers concluded that states with less restrictive gun
laws and more gun owners had higher school shootings rates (Reeping, et al.,
2022). a
These two articles support my interest in the factors that contribute to school
violence and school shootings. School shootings have risen in recent years and
only saw a slight reduction during the pandemic (Reeping, et al., 2022). Both
articles strengthened my understanding of school violence by using statistical
analysis to describe and predict school violence. This author was interested in the
researchers' suggestion of new resources. For example, Reeping et al. (2022)
found that one of my predicted school shootings will occur in states with
permissive gun laws and suggest further research is needed to understand the
relationship between gun laws and the onset of the rise in school shootings. This
author is interested in how public policy has influenced school violence, so this
area of research is compelling and worth additional inquiry.
López. (2022). Association Between Attitudes Toward Violence and Violent
Behavior in the School Context: A Systematic Review and Correlational Meta-
Analysis. International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology : IJCHP., 22(1).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijchp.2021.100278
Paul M. Reeping, Louis Klarevas, Sonali Rajan, Ali Rowhani-Rahbar, Justin Heinze,
April M. Zeoli, Monika K. Goyal, Marc A. Zimmerman & Charles C. Branas (2022):
State Firearm Laws, Gun Ownership, and K-12 School Shootings: Implications for
School Safety, Journal of School Violence, DOI: 10.1080/15388220.2021.2018332
