PHILADELPHIA (September 1, 2026) – Adolescent suicide risk remains elevated in high-violence neighborhoods even as overall post-pandemic shooting rates decline, according to a new Penn Nursing study published in Pediatrics .
Led by Jungwon Min, PhD, MS , Director of the BECCA Lab, researchers analyzed over 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 impacts youth mental health during the post-pandemic period.
While teen depression returned to pre-pandemic levels, overall suicide risk in the post-pandemic period stayed elevated—and neighborhood context played a key role:
- High-violence "hot spots": Risk rose by 2 percentage points from pre-pandemic 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 healthcare 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 post-pandemic 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 study was funded by Clinical Futures and supported by the Arcus Data Repository Team at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). The research was conducted by an interdisciplinary team of investigators across the University of Pennsylvania and CHOP. Co-authors include Penn Nursing's Cathrine C. McDonald, PhD , and Sara F. Jacoby, PhD , along with Penn Medicine's Stephanie Mayne, PhD and CHOP's Vicky Tam, MA.
