Local homicide rate increases cause more elementary students to fail school

"This finding is a source of concern because exposure to environmental violence is highly prevalent in contemporary societies and is unequally distributed along socioeconomic lines," said study co-author Florencia Torche, an associate professor of sociology at New York University. "To the extent that children living in poverty are more likely to experience environmental violence, its effect on early educational achievement will contribute to the intergenerational reproduction of poverty."

Titled, "Exposure to Local Homicides and Early Educational Achievement in Mexico," the study, which appears in the April issue of Sociology of Education, relies on data on all elementary schools in Mexico from 1990 to 2010 merged with the annual homicide rate in the municipality where each school is located.

According to study co-author Monica L. Caudillo, a doctoral student in sociology at New York University, Mexico's homicide rate grew dramatically between 2007 and 2010, from 8 to 23 murders per 100,000 people, a surge largely driven by drug trafficking-related violence.

"Our findings indicate that the recent increase in homicides resulted in thousands of elementary school children failing a grade," said Caudillo, who noted that research in the United States often focuses on the effect of violence on teenagers -- and on outcomes such as dropping out of high school or getting pregnant as a teenager -- but gives less consideration to younger children.