@article{ref1,
title="Is serious aggressive behaviour in school preventable? A literature review concerning school shootings and discussion of two case reports",
journal="Neuropsychiatrie de l'enfance et de l'adolescence",
year="2011",
author="Seidowsky, E. and Deniau, E. and Brunelle, J. and Cohen, D.",
volume="59",
number="7",
pages="420-427",
abstract="Background In 1999, two teenagers opened fire on their classmates at Columbine High School (USA) and then committed suicide. Anglo-Saxon literature on school shootings aims at preventing them by determining the common clinical assessment criteria of shooting threats. In France, the extensive media coverage of various violent acts creates the impression that school violence is on the rise. Two case reports of threats of serious school violence made us feel we had to analyze the problem. Method Firstly, we conducted a literature review in order to identify common clinical assessment criteria of profile of a school shooter. We searched the Medline database from 1999 to 2009 and selected studies analyzing more than five school shootings. We also performed a search of school shootings that received media coverage through Google and Google Scholar networks, and the Federal Bureau for Investigations website. Secondly, we compared the identified criteria with those observed in the two case reports. Results We found eight retrospective descriptive studies published between 1999 and 2009, which collected more than five cases of school shootings. Analysis of the grey literature allowed us to identify 17 cases of school shootings with extensive coverage by the media. The criteria taken into consideration for defining the profile of a school shooter included acute psychiatric individual factors (e.g.: depression, schizophrenia), personality factors (e.g.: interests in arms or violence), relational factors (e.g.: difficulty in socializing), community factors (e.g.: past school bullying experience) and societal factors (e.g.: legislation on arms). On the basis of the two case reports, we debate the relevance of the proposed criteria and their applicability. Conclusion The study highlights some criteria that can be used by school and health professionals in determining menacing individuals who are at risk of behaving violently. Particular attention has been paid, among other things, to the consequences of school bullying.<p />",
language="fr",
issn="0222-9617",
doi="10.1016/j.neurenf.2011.05.004",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neurenf.2011.05.004"
}