Why Do Shootings Occur?

Students say revenge is clearly the major reason for school shootings.

受访者被要求对16种可能的校园枪击原因进行评分，从1(强烈反对)到5(强烈同意). Their answers are as follows:
Rank Reason % Agreeing
1 They want to get back at those who have hurt them. 87
2 Other kids pick on them, make fun or them, or bully them. 86
3 They don't value life. 62
4 They have been victims of physical abuse at home. 61
5 They have mental problems. 56
6 It is easy for them to get a gun. 56
7 They do not get along with their parents. 55
8 They have witnessed physical abuse at home. 54
9 They drink alcohol or use drugs. 52
10 They do not have any good friends. 49
11 他们在电视、电影、录像、电脑和电子游戏中看到暴力. 37
12 Violence is a way of life in their neighborhood. 34
13 Other kids encouraged them to do it. 28
14 Their teachers don't care about them. 26
15 They are afraid of their own safety. 20
16 They are bored. 18

For all groups of students, getting back at those who hurt them; having other kids pick on them, make fun or them or bully them; not valuing life; and being a victim of abuse were consistently among the top five reasons, regardless of what variables were used to analyze the data. Consistently ranked at the bottom among the reasons were being bored; being afraid for their own safety; and being encouraged by others to shoot.

If we look at the means of responses students offered for each of 16 reasons, we get a similar picture. The top four reasons were:

  1. Other kids pick on them, make fun of them or bully them.
  2. They want to get back at people who have hurt them.
  3. They don't value life.
  4. They have been a victim pf physical abuse at home.

There were some variations in ranking based on gender. The top five reasons endorsed by boys were: getting back at those who hurt them; other kids pick on them, make fun of them or bully them; they don't value life; they have mental problems; and they have been a victim of physical abuse at home. For girls, the top reasons were: other kids pick on them, make fun of them or bully them; they want to get back at those who have hurt them; they have been a victim of physical abuse at home; they don't value life; and they have witnessed physical abuse at home.

More than any other variables, however, 媒体使用和种族与学生如何理解致命暴力的原因相关.

高、中、低媒体使用者对校园枪击原因的认知差异

* boldface indicated wide variations in percentages of agreement
Rank Reason % High % Medium % Low
1 They want to get back at those who have hurt them. 86 86 89
2 Other kids pick on them, make fun or them, or bully them. 85 85 89
3 They don't value life. 63 60 64
4 They have been victims of physical abuse at home. 56 65 62
5 They have mental problems. 57 54 56
6 It is easy for them to get a gun. 54 54 61
7 They do not get along with their parents. 50 56 60
8 They have witnessed physical abuse at home. 50 57 57
9 They drink alcohol or use drugs. 47 52 57
10 They do not have any good friends. 48 46 56
11 他们在电视、电影、录像、电脑和电子游戏中看到暴力. 28 38 46
12 Violence is a way of life in their neighborhood. 31 33 40
13 Other kids encouraged them to do it. 25 29 32
14 Their teachers don't care about them. 27 27 27
15 They are afraid of their own safety. 19 19 23
16 They are bored. 19 15 19

High media users were less likely than low media users to endorse the lack of friends; ease in getting a gun; not getting along with their parents; other kids' encouragement; violence in their neighborhoods; being victims of physical abuse themselves or witnessing physical abuse; and alcohol and drugs as reasons for violence in the schools. On each of those, the high media users were at least six percentage points, and sometimes as much as 10, below the low media users.

不同种族/民族背景的学生对校园枪击案原因的理解差异

* boldface indicated wide variations in percentages of agreement
Rank Reason % White % African-American % Hispanic % Minority
1 They want to get back at those who have hurt them. 89 74 82 79
2 Other kids pick on them, make fun or them, or bully them. 87 75 88 83
3 They don't value life. 63 61 62 62
4 They have been victims of physical abuse at home. 61 55 62 60
5 They have mental problems. 56 57 58 57
6 It is easy for them to get a gun. 56 51 56 54
7 They do not get along with their parents. 55 49 56 53
8 They have witnessed physical abuse at home. 56 44 51 48
9 They drink alcohol or use drugs. 54 53 1 56
10 They do not have any good friends. 49 43 57 52
11 他们在电视、电影、录像、电脑和电子游戏中看到暴力. 37 41 37 38
12 Violence is a way of life in their neighborhood. 35 33 27 29
13 Other kids encouraged them to do it. 29 35 21 26
14 Their teachers don't care about them. 26 21 27 25
15 They are afraid of their own safety. 20 34 11 20
16 They are bored. 18 18 18 18
  • 非洲裔美国人不太可能认为报复他人是暴力的一个原因.
  • 非裔美国人也不像白人那样认为欺凌是一个严重的问题.
  • 与西班牙裔美国人相比，非洲裔美国人认为缺乏好朋友是导致抑郁的原因的可能性要小得多.
  • 非洲裔美国人不太可能认为缺乏朋友是校园暴力的罪魁祸首, but more likely to agree that other kids' encouragement was a factor.
  • 拉美裔不太可能将他们社区的暴力归咎于暴力的原因, 与非洲裔美国人相比，他们更不可能认为对自身安全的担忧会引发校园枪击案.

To a slightly lesser degree, 疏离感与学生认为的校园暴力的原因相关.

不同疏离程度的学生对校园枪击事件原因的认知差异

* boldface indicated wide variations in percentages of agreement
Rank Reason % High % Medium % Low
1 They want to get back at those who have hurt them. 91 89 81
2 Other kids pick on them, make fun or them, or bully them. 56 87 86
3 They don't value life. 60 65 61
4 They have been victims of physical abuse at home. 56 62 65
5 They have mental problems. 56 58 55
6 It is easy for them to get a gun. 54 60 55
7 They do not get along with their parents. 51 54 58
8 They have witnessed physical abuse at home. 50 58 55
9 They drink alcohol or use drugs. 50 53 52
10 They do not have any good friends. 49 53 58
11 他们在电视、电影、录像、电脑和电子游戏中看到暴力. 31 37 42
12 Violence is a way of life in their neighborhood. 31 38 34
13 Other kids encouraged them to do it. 28 27 29
14 Their teachers don't care about them. 30 26 24
15 They are afraid of their own safety. 22 21 18
16 They are bored. 18 19 18
  • 高度疏离的学生和疏离指数较低的学生一样有可能责怪其他孩子对他们的挑剔, making fun of them or bullying them as a reason for school violence, 但他们更有可能说，报复伤害他们的人是一个原因.
  • 91%的疏远指数高的人表示，报复他人是原因之一, compared to 81 percent of those with low alienation indices.
  • Highly alienated students were also less likely to say that being a victim of physical abuse; witnessing physical abuse in the home; or not getting along with parents were causes.

Overall, violence on TV, in movies, 在视频，电脑和视频游戏中，致命暴力的原因排名第11位. However, there were two notable exceptions to the ranking.

  • Younger students' responses placed it eighth in the list of 16 reasons.
  • Those whose grades were mostly D's and F 's ranked it ninth.

Across every variable except race, however, 对于媒体暴力是校园枪击案的原因，学生们的看法存在很大差异. Some of the variations are:

  • 41 percent of girls said it was a cause, compared to 33 percent of boys.
  • 大多数成绩为D和F的学生比大多数成绩为B和C的学生(49%)更有可能将其视为一个问题. 34 percent).
  • 生活质量指数低的受访者认为这不是一个问题，而生活质量指数高的受访者(32% cf. 43 percent).
  • 46%的低媒体用户认为媒体中的暴力是导致校园枪击案的原因, compared to only 28 percent of those who are high media users.
  • 与疏远指数较低的受访者(31%)相比，高度疏远的受访者不太可能将其视为一个问题. 42 percent).
  • 那些来自无犯罪社区的人比那些来自有很多或一些犯罪社区的人更有可能认为媒体中的暴力是一个问题.
  • 40%的受访者表示，他们在学校感到不安全，并将其归咎于媒体的暴力, 相比之下，37%的人表示他们的学校非常安全或非常安全, and 34 percent of those who said their schools are safe.
  • 40%的农村居民和39%的城市学生认为这是一个问题, compared to 34 percent of suburban residents.
  • 生活在中西部和南部的人比生活在东部或西部的人更有可能将媒体暴力视为一个原因.
  • 母亲受过高中或以下教育的受访者比母亲受过大学教育的受访者更有可能将暴力归咎于媒体.