Visitors look as the American flag flies at half mast on top of the White House in Washington, D.C., on March 28, 2023, following a school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, where three students and three staff members were killed on March 27.(OLIVER CONTRERAS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
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America's young people are afraid. Very afraid.
Gun violence and worries about finding affordable housing have made youth fearful about getting shot or ending up homeless, according to a comprehensive survey by Harvard University's Institute of Politics, which releases its poll of American youth twice yearly on political and social issues.
Forty percent of 18- to 29-year-old Americans – a generation that grew up participating in active shooter drills from kindergarten on – are concerned about being a victim of gun violence or a mass shooting, the survey found. Further, about a third are concerned about someone close to them becoming a victim of gun violence or a mass shooting.
The survey offers a grim picture for an age cohort just beginning their adult lives. Aside from fears of having their lives cut short by gun violence, or upended by homelessness, mental health remains a problem for youth, the poll found.
Nearly half (47%) of the under-30s reported "feeling down, depressed or hopeless," and 24% said they had thoughts that they would be "better off dead" or had thought about hurting themselves for at least several days in the previous two weeks.
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