Youth suicide risk remains high in violent neighborhoods, despite post-pandemic recovery

by University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing

edited by Sadie Harley, reviewed by Andrew Zinin

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Adolescent suicide risk remains elevated in high-violence neighborhoods even as overall postpandemic shooting rates decline, according to a new Penn Nursing study published in Pediatrics.

Led by Jungwon Min, director of the BECCA Lab, researchers analyzed more than 71,000 primary care visits for Philadelphia-area teens ages 12–18 from 2017 to 2024. By linking depression and suicide screenings with neighborhood shooting data, the study examined how community violence still affects youth mental health during the postpandemic period.

While teen depression returned to prepandemic levels, overall suicide risk in the postpandemic period stayed elevated—and neighborhood context played a key role:

• High-violence "hot spots": Risk rose by 2 percentage points from prepandemic levels.
• Low-violence "cold spots": Risk dropped by 2.2 percentage points over the same period.

These trends persisted even after accounting for neighborhood economic conditions. The authors emphasize that health care and public health strategies should weigh community firearm violence and lingering pandemic-related stress when deciding on closer follow-up after mental health screening.

"While overall postpandemic shooting rates and teen depression levels have declined, neighborhood exposure to firearm violence continues to drive youth suicide risk in high-violence communities," said Min.

The research was conducted by an interdisciplinary team of investigators across the University of Pennsylvania and CHOP.

Publication details

Jungwon Min et al, Community Firearm Violence, Youth Depression, and Suicide Risk in Philadelphia: 2017–2024, Pediatrics (2026). DOI: 10.1542/peds.2025-075438

Journal information: Pediatrics

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PsychiatryPsychology & Mental healthPediatricsChildren's health Provided by University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing Who's behind this story?

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