Culturally independent risk factors of ...

We investigated risk factors for school and campus rampages, using international case studies. The factors rejection (chronic/acute), psychological problems, fascination with guns and/or explosives as well as fascination with violence and/or death have already been found for U.S. cases in previous research. However, school rampages are not just a U.S.-American phenomenon. Therefore, we analyzed 20 international cases from six continents between 1999 and 2016 to investigate culturally independent evidence of these factors. In addition to the five risk factors, cultural characteristics of the nations involved were compared, including six universal dimensions, firearm possession rate, and the Global Peace Index. After examining non-U.S./international cases, our results also show evidence for five factors: rejection (chronic/acute), psychological problems, gun/explosives fascination, as well as violence/death fascination. These results can help to establish effective and efficient prevention of school and campus rampages all around the globe.