Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Youth Responses to School Shootings: a Review

  • Child and Family Disaster Psychiatry (B Pfefferbaum, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Psychiatry Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

This paper aims to synthesize research relating to youth responses to school shootings between 2014 and 2017. The main questions it addresses are how such events impact young people psychologically, and what risk or protective factors may contribute to different trajectories of recovery?

Recent Findings

Recent research suggests that most young people exposed to school shootings demonstrate resilience, exhibiting no long-term dysfunction. However, a minority will experience severe and chronic symptoms. The likelihood of experiencing clinically significant reactions is influenced by pre-trauma functioning as well as peri-traumatic and post-traumatic factors. These include proximity to the trauma, peri-traumatic dissociation, post-traumatic emotional regulation difficulties, social support, and flexibility of coping styles.

Summary

Research that separates the distinguishing features of young people with differing recovery styles is vital to tailor intervention. But methodological and design issues associated with such research necessitates caution in drawing conclusions. Variation in definitions and measures and the self-report nature of many of the studies are potential sources of bias. Greater uniformity across designs would enhance confidence and allow for improved evidence-based intervention.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance

  1. • Newman KS, Fox C, Harding D, Mehta J, Roth W. Rampage: the social roots of school shootings. Hachette UK; 2008. Influential book about the phenomenon of school shootings, which contains discussion of how to typify incidents.

  2. Malkki L. Political elements in post-Columbine school shootings in Europe and North America. Terror Pol Violence. 2014;26(1):185–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Miron LR, Orcutt HK, Kumpula MJ. Differential predictors of transient stress versus posttraumatic stress disorder: evaluating risk following targeted mass violence. Behav Ther. 2014 Nov 1;45(6):791–805.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Turunen T, Haravuori H, Punamäki RL, Suomalainen L, Marttunen M. The role of attachment in recovery after a school-shooting trauma. Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2014;5(1):22728.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Vieselmeyer J, Holguin J, Mezulis A. The role of resilience and gratitude in posttraumatic stress and growth following a campus shooting. Psychol Trauma: Theory Res Pract Policy. 2017 Jan;9(1):62–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. • Boykin DM, London MJ, Orcutt HK. Examining minority attrition among women in longitudinal trauma research. J Trauma Stress. 2016;29(1):26–32. Analysis of longitudinal data from the Northern Illinois University demonstrating that minority students were more likely to drop out of research studies than their non-minority peers.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. • Orcutt HK, Bonanno GA, Hannan SM, Miron LR. Prospective trajectories of posttraumatic stress in college women following a campus mass shooting. J Trauma Stress. 2014;27(3):249–56. Longitudinally assessed predictors of different recovery trajectories in shooting-exposed students

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Kubany ES, Leisen MB, Kaplan AS, Kelly MP. Validation of a brief measure of posttraumatic stress disorder: the Distressing Event Questionnaire (DEQ). Psychol Assess. 2000 Jun;12(2):197–209.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Horowitz M, Wilner N, Alvarez W. Impact of Event Scale: a measure of subjective stress. Psychosom Med. 1979 May 1;41(3):209–18.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Turunen T, Haravuori H, Pihlajamäki JJ, Marttunen M, Punamäki RL. Framework of the outreach after a school shooting and the students’ perceptions of the provided support. Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2014;5(1):23079.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Smith AJ, Donlon K, Anderson SR, Hughes M, Jones RT. When seeking influences believing and promotes posttraumatic adaptation. Anxiety Stress Coping. 2015;28(3):340–56.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Kessler RC, Barker PR, Colpe LJ, Epstein JF, Gfroerer JC, Hiripi E, et al. Screening for serious mental illness in the general population. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2003 Feb 1;60(2):184–9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Wusik MF, Smith AJ, Jones RT, Hughes M. Dynamics among posttraumatic stress symptoms, forgiveness for the perpetrator, and posttraumatic growth following collective trauma. J Commun Psychol. 2015 Apr 1;43(4):389–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. • Elsass HJ, Schildkraut J, Stafford MC. Studying school shootings: challenges and considerations for research. Am J Crim Just. 2016;41(3):444–64. Comprehensive overview of research issues involved with measuring fear responses to school shooting incidents.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Achenbach TM. Manual for the Child Behaviour Checklist/4-18 and 1991 profile. Burlington: University of Vermont Department of Psychiatry; 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Haravuori H, Kiviruusu O, Suomalainen L, Marttunen M. An evaluation of ICD-11 posttraumatic stress disorder criteria in two samples of adolescents and young adults exposed to mass shootings: factor analysis and comparisons to ICD-10 and DSM-IV. BMC Psychiatry. 2016;16(1):140.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  17. Kaufman J, Birmaher B, Brent D, Rao UM, Flynn C, Moreci P, et al. Schedule for affective disorders and schizophrenia for school-age children-present and lifetime version (K-SADS-PL): initial reliability and validity data. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychilatry. 1997;36(7):980–8.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Beland LP, Kim D. The effect of high school shootings on schools and student performance. Educ Eval Policy Anal. 2016;38(1):113–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Tedeschi RG, Calhoun LG. Posttraumatic growth: conceptual foundations and empirical evidence. Psychol Inq. 2004;15(1):1–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Calhoun LG, Tedeschi RG, editors. Facilitating posttraumatic growth: a clinician’s guide. Routledge; 1999.

  21. Triplett NP, Allen A, Lewis CW. Zero tolerance, school shootings, and the post-brown quest for equity in discipline policy: an examination of how urban minorities are punished for white suburban violence. J Negro Educ. 2014;83(3):352–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Liao Y, Shonkoff ET, Barnett E, Wen CF, Miller KA, Eddy JM. Brief report: examining children’s disruptive behavior in the wake of trauma—a two-piece growth curve model before and after a school shooting. J Adolesc. 2015 Oct 1;44:219–23.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  23. Weathers FW, Litz BT, Keane TM, Palmieri PA, Marx BP, Schnurr PP (2013) The PTSD checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5). Scale available from the National Center for PTSD at www.ptsd.va.gov. 2014.

  24. Brewin CR, Rose S, Andrews B, Green J, Tata P, McEvedy CH, et al. Brief screening instrument for post-traumatic stress disorder. Br J Psychiatry. 2002;181(2):158–62.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Strøm IF, Schultz JH, Wentzel-Larsen T, Dyb G. School performance after experiencing trauma: a longitudinal study of school functioning in survivors of the Utøya shootings in 2011. Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2016;7(1):31359.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Calhoun LG, Tedeschi RG, editors. Handbook of posttraumatic growth: research and practice. Routledge; 2014.

  27. • Shultz JM, Thoresen S, Flynn BW, Muschert GW, Shaw JA, Espinel Z, et al. Multiple vantage points on the mental health effects of mass shootings. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2014;16(9):469. Excellent review of psychological responses to mass shootings in general.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Bonanno GA, Galea S, Bucciarelli A, Vlahov D. What predicts psychological resilience after disaster? The role of demographics, resources, and life stress. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2007 Oct;75(5):671–82.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychology, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230, Odense M, Denmark

    Áine Travers, Tracey McDonagh & Ask Elklit

Authors
  1. Áine Travers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Tracey McDonagh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ask Elklit
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Áine Travers.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Additional information

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Child and Family Disaster Psychiatry

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Travers, Á., McDonagh, T. & Elklit, A. Youth Responses to School Shootings: a Review. Curr Psychiatry Rep 20, 47 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-018-0903-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-018-0903-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation