Acceptability of School Shooting Prevention Procedures Among Parents.

Abstract

While gun violence has been declared a public health crisis, there is limited information concerning stakeholders such as parents' perceptions of acceptable procedures to prevent this violence in schools. This study explored 114 parents' degree of acceptance for an assortment of school shooting prevention interventions. Specifically, this study compared security measures, threat assessment, zero tolerance, and an exploratory procedure. While all procedures were deemed acceptable, parents rated the threat assessment as most acceptable, followed closely by security measures, which were significantly more acceptable than the exploratory procedure, and finally the zero tolerance procedures. Discussion is provided on possible factors influencing the acceptance of these procedures.