To what extent is a psychological disorder a primary factor

in a school shooting?
By Dafne Lazaro
English 1011- ECE
Mrs. Rivera - Period 1
 For many years, the theory of nature versus nurture has been a debatable topic with

relation to criminology. Are there ways to prevent a criminal from being born? Is this birth

genetic or environmental? The truth is that it can be either or both since there are multiple factors

that contribute towards the mental and emotional instability of a person. One particular crime

that has risen in the last two decades is gun violence, more specifically, in the school

environment. Each of these tragic events has been led by an individual, and the best solution is

believed by many people to be found in a measured control of guns. This argument can be a

significant method to reduce the danger of fire weapons in poor hands, but due to political

controversy an effective solution is yet to be found. However, if the country took initial steps

such as evaluating the mental health of its citizens then the misuse of firearms will be reduced.

One of the most vulnerable locations for this type of attack is the school. In many cases, it has

been seen that the attacker has been a former student or a person will close relation to a particular

school. For this reason, schools and physicians should focus on students’ mental health to

prevent a future of gun violence in the school setting. It is important to be able to identify the

symptoms/ characteristics of a school shooter, target the group of people who are most

susceptible to emotional instability, and to find the proper mental health evaluation that will

prevent students from becoming violent.

The commonality of traits between school shooters proves that there may be an early

detection of a mental disorder in a person. According to the authors of the ​Heritage Foundation

(2018)​,​ there are three main traits that a shooter exhibits: 1. He/she experiences extreme

resentfulness, anger and a desire for revenge because of perceived social alienation, 2. He/she

came from a broken home, 3. He/she has experienced economic insecurity in the past. At least
one out of the three traits have been observed in each school shooter; for example, the Parkland

attacker, Nikolas Cruz, was raised by his adoptive mom since the age of six and lost her two

months prior to his attack. There were also many acts of aggression on his part during his time at

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that led to his expulsion. In addition, ​The New York

Times​ (2018) reports that the police was often at Cruz’s driveway and had received notice of his

brutality towards animals. Overall, it became obvious that Cruz had developed a disturbance in

his emotional behavior, but no evaluation was put into effect. In addition, the gunman of Sandy

Hook and Chadron High School both came from divorced parents and the shooter of Red Lake

Senior High School had parents who never married, a dad who committed suicide and a stepdad

who divorced his mother. However, this is not to say that children who are raised by non-typical

families are likely to become violent, rather it implies that those who experience trauma or

tragedy should receive guidance in order to better manage their emotions.

It has become obvious that ignorance to these behaviors only leads to tragedy. There

must be a focus on a particular group of people in order to find an effective approach to

identifying who are mentally unstable. A report by the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S.

Department of Education titled ​The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative:

Implications for the Prevention of School Attacks in the United States ​stated that 69% of those

committing violent acts with guns in the school environment ranged between the ages of 10-19,

meanwhile, only 15% were adults between the ages 20-29 who targeted schools (Dr. Walz and

Bleuer, 2015). According to John Woodrow Cox et.al (2018), authors of the Washington Post,

since the year 2000 the youngest school shooter was a six-year-old boy who brought a loaded

gun into his elementary school and shot a girl that he disliked. Since then, the median age for
school shooters has been 16. Based on these statistics, it can be inferred that a school shooter will

most likely be a teenager rather than an adult; for this reason, they should receive priority for

proper mental health evaluations.

Through the years of growth and development, a child experiences many hormonal and

physical changes. It is normal for a teenager to experience insecurities and mood swings,

however, an extreme case may imply a serious mental disorder that may require specialized

attention. Most normal teenagers are characterized by their moody behavior during puberty; for

this reason, it is difficult to differentiate between normal teenage behavior and the symptoms of

depression, anxiety, and other emotional difficulties. It is complex to diagnose teenagers as they

can be easily caught up in their emotions and will tend to create distance from adult figures in an

attempt to gain independence. Parents are advised to keep an eye on their teens for any signs of

behavior changes. However, according to ​Friends for Mental Health ​(2018)​, ​an organization

created by a board of counselors and resources specialists, “​It’s important to remember that no

one sign means that there is a problem. It’s important to examine the: nature, intensity, severity,

and duration of a problem.” Some of the most concerning signs include the following: decrease

in enjoyment and time spent with friends and family, a significant decrease in school

performance, frequents acts of aggression, disobedience and verbal lash outs, feelings of

hopelessness, sadness and anxiety, and dangerous thrill-seeking behavior. Due to the difficulty in

understanding young adults, many misinterpret dangerous actions for regular behavior and vice

versa.  

In the school environment, students are more susceptible to emotional instability than

adults; early observation may be required to fully understand the needs of a person. While in
high school, a student may face social problems such as bullying, peer pressure, stress, and harsh

school discipline.

It is difficult to identify a possible perpetrator because not all fit one picture. There exists

no clear symptoms or factors for what lead people to commit these mass acts of violence.

Common myths are that school shooters were once victims of school aggression, isolated, or

rejected. It is also believed that only males are capable of doing this type of crime; despite the

fact that females are 95.3% less likely to fire a gun at school, there are cases that prove

otherwise. For example, at Salvador B. Castro Middle School, Los Angeles (2010), a​ 1​ 2-year-old

girl shot two of her classmates: one in the head, and one in the wrist; in 2016, Dorothy Dutiel,

age 15, shot and killed her girlfriend May Kieu at Independence High School, Arizona and later

committed suicide. According to Dr. Peter Langman (2017), a psychologist and foremost expert

on the behavior of school shooters, “70 percent of middle and high school students have

experienced bullying at some point.” To this, he adds that bullying is very common, yet school

shootings are not. He discusses that although some school shooters have experienced some sort

of social alienation prior to committing their attack, most did not decide on their actions solely

on revenge. In fact, in his study, he discovered that only 1 out of 48 shooters targeted his

aggressor during the attack. Based on this information, it can be inferred that the factors that

construct these attacks are not easy to target.

Although there are attackers who fall under a common umbrella of traits, there remain

individuals who do not present their true intentions; at times they can be the least expected

people to be considered dangerous. According to Dr. Walz and Bleuer (2015), members of the

American Counseling Association, “​Approximately two-thirds of the attackers came from

two-parent families. The majority of attackers were academically successful students

(41%) earning A’s and B’s in their coursework. “ In addition, Dr. Langman (2017) adds that

an attacker may be not necessarily be a loner nor an outcast, such as the case of​ Jaylen

Fryberg who was voted homecoming prince at his high school one week prior to becoming a

school shooter.​ The only explanations for these cases rely the on the shooter’s psychopathic

personality, psychotic disorders, or trauma.

According to Jugal K. Patel (2018), reporter for the New York Times, since 2012, there

have been at least 239 school shootings nationwide, where 438 people where shot and 138 were

killed. While gun control laws may be implemented to keep firearms off the streets, an initiative

that can further prevent more deaths is the early detection of mental disorders. Giving proper

mental health evaluations at all schools will prevent students from developing violent behavior,

thus preventing school shooters. According to the Armstrong Center for Medicine and Health

Hospital (2018), it is important to note that 1 in every 10 young adults and 1 in every 5 children

have a mental health challenge, but about 80% of them do not receive the care they need.

Likewise, Dr. Walz and Bleuer (2015) states, “Students who are lacking positive constraints may

be more likely to develop patterns of aggressive behavior due to anger or resentment towards

others, a lack of healthy relationships, or academic struggles in school.” To resolve this, school

officials may take the approach of establishing tutoring and mentorships to assist students who

are struggling academically and who need a healthy relationship with an adult figure. This will

encourage new friendships and a stop to bullying which will help students to not feel lonely or

misunderstood.
 The Association for Children’s Mental Health (2018), a family based organization the

provides advice and counseling resources, suggests having teachers offer flexible

accommodations for students that suffer from stress and anxiety in the classroom. By doing so,

students will have the option to re-do work that they did not feel confident turning in. In

addition, if teachers were taught strategies to better recognize anxiety in students, then they will

be able to equip them with the tools to manage their anxiety. Lastly, it would be ideal to create a

plan with the problematic student for situations where the students cannot concentrate to due to

worries. Overall, by taking a few reasonable steps to get to know the students, school faculty will

have a better opportunity to understand their situations and have a better evaluation of their

behavior.

In order to put an end to the rise of gun violence in the school environment, we must

analyze the psychological factors that affect the mental health of people and lead to the creation

of school shooters. It is important to be able to identify the symptoms/ characteristics of a school

shooter, target the group of people who are most susceptible to emotional instability, and to find

the proper mental health evaluation that will prevent students from becoming violent. By doing

so, psychological disorders will not be a rule factor in school shootings.

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