At a glance
Researchers at RTI International looked at crisis hotline data to better understand how mass shootings impact young people.
Initial findings
RTI researchers studied trend data from Crisis Text Line. This not-for-profit provides free, 24/7 mental health support via text message. The service is popular among youth since they prefer text messaging over a traditional telephone hotline. Crisis Text Line provides research partners with data in a secure way, removing any potentially identifying information.
RTI researchers looked at conversations before and after the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. The shooting resulted in a significant increase in conversations about firearms, with the largest spike the day after the event. Conversations about grief increased the most during this time.
Their research offers insights into the ripple effects of mass shootings on young people, including psychological impacts. It may also help future researchers because RTI developed new procedures for analyzing large-scale text data from real-time data sources and demonstrating how this novel data source can inform firearm violence prevention research.