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. f
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). f
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
