Adolescent mass shootings: developmental considerations in light of the Sandy Hook shooting
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Timothy R. Rice
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Leon Hoffman
Abstract
Adolescent mass shootings are a special subset of mass killings, which continue despite significant preventative public health efforts. It is often held that these individuals have few salient warning signs that could have been identified. This piece proposes that mass shootings committed by adolescent and post-adolescent young males must be understood from a developmental perspective. The hypothesis proposed in this paper is that such killings occur as the result of the adolescent’s frustrated effort to progress along normative development. The goal of normative separation from maternal figures by the boy is presented as a potential risk factor when this goal is thwarted. Childhood case material from the perpetrator of a recent adolescent mass shooting, the Sandy Hook shooting, is discussed as an illustration of this hypothesis. Implications for public health measures and for individualized treatment are presented and developed.
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©2015 by De Gruyter
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- A role for psychiatry in parental override cases
- Reviews
- Forensic psychiatric evaluations: an overview of methods, ethical issues, and criminal and civil assessments
- Underage drinking: does the minimum age drinking law offer enough protection?
- The role of serotonin in adolescent suicide: theoretical, methodological, and clinical concerns
- Biological and environmental predictors of the dysregulation profile in children and adolescents: the story so far
- The role of serotonin in impulsive aggression, suicide, and homicide in adolescents and adults: a literature review
- Outliers in American juvenile justice: the need for statutory reform in North Carolina and New York
- Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), substance use disorders, and criminality: a difficult problem with complex solutions
- Violence among young men: the importance of a gender-specific developmental approach to adolescent male suicide and homicide
- Adolescent mass shootings: developmental considerations in light of the Sandy Hook shooting
- Emotion regulation and adolescent suicide: a proposal for physician education
- Oxytocin and callous-unemotional traits: towards a social-cognitive approach to forensic analysis
- Suicide medical malpractice: an educational overview
- Alcohol and drug use among adolescents: an educational overview
- Original Article
- Victimization exposure and suicidal ideation among Spaniard adolescents evaluated at outpatient mental health services
- Short Communication
- Suicide risk assessment: searching for true positive
- Case Reports
- Taking a toy gun to school: a consideration of the determinants of adolescent forensic behavior in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shooting
- Suicidal behavior in a medical professional with comorbid depression and substance use disorder: an educational case report
- Low testosterone in a young combat veteran with dual diagnosis and suicidal behavior: a case study
