Objectives: We examine how news media portrays the causes of mass shootings for shooters of different races. Specifically, we explore whether White men are disproportionately framed as mentally ill, and what narratives media tend to invoke when covering mass shootings through the lens of mental illness as opposed to other explanatory frames. Methods: The study examines a unique data set of 433 news documents covering 219 mass shootings between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2015. It analyzes the data using a mixed methods approach, combining logistic regression with content analysis. Results: Quantitative findings show that Whites and Latinos are more likely to have their crime attributed to mental illness than Blacks. Qualitative findings show that rhetoric within these discussions frame White men as sympathetic characters, while Black and Latino men

Smoke-free air laws and the denormalization of smoking are important contributors to reductions in smoking during the 21st century. Yet, tobacco policy and denormalization may intersect in numerous ways to affect smoking. We merge data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, Tobacco Use Supplement of the Current Population Survey, American Nonsmokers' Right Foundation, and Census to produce a unique examination of the intersection of smoking bans and denormalization and their influence on any smoking and heavy smoking among young adults. Operationalizing denormalization as complete unacceptability of smoking within nightlife venues, we examine 1) whether smoking bans and denormalization have independent effects on smoking, 2) whether denormalization mediates the influence of smoking bans on smoking, and 3) whether denormalization moderates the impact of smoking bans on smoking. For any smoking, denormalization has a significant independent effect beyond the influence of smoking bans. For heavy smoking, denormalization mediates the relationship between smoking bans and habitual smoking. Denormalization does not moderate the relationship of smoking bans with either pattern of smoking. This research identifies that the intersection of denormalization and smoking bans plays an important role in lowering smoking, yet they remain distinct in their influences. Notably, smoking bans are efficacious even in locales with lower levels of denormalization, particularly for social smoking.

Education affords a range of direct and indirect benefits that promote longer and healthier lives, and stratify health lifestyles. We use tobacco clean air policies to examine whether policies that apply universally-interventions that bypass individuals' unequal access and ability to employ flexible resources to avoid health hazards-have an effect on educational inequalities in health behaviors. We test theoretically informed but competing hypotheses that these policies either amplify or attenuate the association between education and smoking behavior. Our results provide evidence that interventions that "move upstream" to apply universally regardless of individual educational attainment, here tobacco clean air policies, are particularly effective among young adults with the lowest levels of parental or individual educational attainment. These findings provide important evidence that upstream approaches may disrupt persistent educational inequalities in health behaviors. In doing so, they provide opportunities to intervene on behaviors in early adulthood that contribute to disparities in morbidity and mortality later in the life course. These findings also help assuage concerns that tobacco clean air policies increase educational inequalities in smoking by stigmatizing those with the fewest resources.

Background: We determine trends in fatal pediatric drug overdose from 1999 to 2018 and describe the influence of contextual factors and policies on such overdoses. Methods: Combining restricted CDC mortality files with data from other sources, we conducted between-county multilevel models to examine associations of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics with pediatric overdose mortality and a fixed-effects analysis to identify how changes in contexts and policies over time shaped county-level fatal pediatric overdoses per 100,000 children under 12. Results: Pediatric overdose deaths rose from 0.08/100,000 children in 1999 to a peak of 0.19/100,000 children in 2016, with opioids accounting for an increasing proportion of deaths. Spatial patterns of pediatric overdose deaths are heterogenous. Socioeconomic characteristics are not associated with between-county differences in pediatric overdose mortality. Greater state expenditures on public welfare (b=−0.099; CI:[−0.193,−0.005]) and hospitals (b=−0.222; CI:[−.437,−.007]) were associated with lower pediatric overdose mortality. In years when a Good Samaritan law is in effect, the county-level pediatric overdose rate was lower (b=−0.095; CI:[−0.177,−0.013]). Conclusions: Pediatric overdose mortality increased since 1999, peaking in 2016. Good Samaritan laws and investment in hospitals and public welfare may temper pediatric overdoses. Multi-faceted approaches using policy and individual intervention is necessary to reduce pediatric overdose mortality.

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