PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Hansen, Benjamin
AU  - Sabia, Joseph J.
AU  - Schaller, Jessamyn
TI  - In-Person Schooling and Youth Suicide
AID  - 10.3368/jhr.1222-12710R2
DP  - 2023 Nov 07
TA  - Journal of Human Resources
PG  - 1222-12710R2
4099  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2023/11/01/jhr.1222-12710R2.short
4100  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2023/11/01/jhr.1222-12710R2.full
AB  - This study explores the effect of in-person schooling on youth suicide in the United States. We show that youth suicide rates historically declined during summers and rose again earlier in counties with an August school starting date. We document a departure from this pattern at the onset of the COVID19 pandemic: youth suicides fell 25 percent in March 2020, when schools closed, and remained low throughout summer. Leveraging county variation in the timing of reopening, we find that returning to in-person instruction increased youth suicides by 12-18 percent. Analysis of Google search data suggests that bullying is a likely mechanism.