One in Five High School Students Has Witnessed Community Violence

Community violence — violence between unrelated people, usually outside the home — is a major public health problem. From 2019 to 2020, firearm homicides rose 39% among people aged 10–24, and firearm suicides about 15%. In 2020, firearm injuries killed more children and teens aged 1–19 than any other cause. Using the 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey of 17,232 high school students, CDC looked at who witnesses community violence and carries guns, and how both relate to substance use and suicide risk — the first national YRBS analysis of these links.

Key findings

• 19.9% of students had ever seen someone physically attacked, beaten, stabbed or shot in their neighborhood.
• 3.5% had carried a gun in the past year — 5.0% of boys and 1.8% of girls.
• Boys were more likely than girls to witness violence (20.4% vs. 19.2%).
• American Indian or Alaska Native, Black, Hispanic and multiracial students were more likely than Asian or White students to witness violence and to carry a gun.
• Lesbian, gay or bisexual students were more likely than heterosexual peers to witness violence; gun carrying didn't differ significantly by sexual identity.
• Gun carrying was more common among students 18 and older than those 15 and younger; witnessing violence didn't differ by age.

Linked risks

Witnessing violence went with markedly higher odds of other risks, for both boys and girls and among Black, White and Hispanic students alike. Among boys, for example:

Results for girls were similar — for instance, 61.2% of girls who carried a gun had witnessed violence.

Gun carrying was also strongly linked to suicide risk and substance use:

What it means

• Community violence counts as an adverse childhood experience (ACE). Young people may carry weapons for self-defense, especially after being victimized or when they see a lot of violence around them.
• Differences by race and ethnicity reflect higher exposure to violence linked to discrimination and racism, concentrated poverty, high crime and economic or housing instability — and could widen other health disparities through stress and adversity. Gun carrying may also reflect mistrust of justice and government systems and weak community protections.
• Sexual minority youth face greater risks of substance use, suicide and victimization, and may witness violence because they are often its targets.
• Witnessing violence, especially repeatedly, is tied to PTSD and major depression; exposure to many kinds of violence raises lifelong risks, including early death.

What helps

Tackling shared risk and protective factors can prevent several forms of violence and substance use at once:

• family strategies — parenting skills and relationship programs that support healthy development;
• community strategies — fixing up physical spaces (such as abandoned housing), street outreach, mentoring and changing community norms;
• stronger use of violence data and evidence-based programs in the communities most affected.

Safer schools and communities are essential for every young person to have the same chance at health and well-being.

Limitations: the opioid-misuse question might have captured non-opioid pain medicines; the survey is cross-sectional, so it can't show cause; and the witnessing question covers a lifetime without saying when, how often or who was involved.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org, to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Sources

Based on Harper CR, Li J, Sheats K, et al., "Witnessing Community Violence, Gun Carrying, and Associations with Substance Use and Suicide Risk Among High School Students — Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2021," MMWR Supplements, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a work of the United States government in the public domain. The imported copy was cut off in several places; the missing text and tables were taken from the same report's full text in PubMed Central (PMC10156151).