The Absence of Positive Psychosocial Characteristics in the Lives of Mass School Shooters

This article summarizes psychological and social characteristics of mass or rampage school shooters. The sample of mostly teen-age males, N=20, wasrestricted to Americans whose shooting was at a secondary school, not college. Many negative characteristics of these or similar shooters already in theliterature were identified in our sample, e.g. obsession with violence, depression, family problems. Also, attention was paid to the possible presence ofpositive characteristics, such as having an active, important goal in sports, the media, professions, or an active participation in pro-social groups at school orin pro-social groups in the community. Not one example of such positive characteristics was found in the biographical material for any shooter in thesample. It was concluded that the absence of positive meaning is an important factor in the lives of school shooters; vaious possible positive responses tothis issue are briefly noted.