News Content About Mass Shootings and Attitudes Toward Mental Illness

2015 ◽  
Vol 93 (3) ◽  
pp. 644-658 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura C. Wilson ◽  
Alesha D. Ballman ◽  
Theresa J. Buczek
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mass Shootings ◽  
News Content ◽  
Attitudes Toward Mental Illness

Muslim mass shooters are perceived as less mentally ill and more motivated by religion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brett Gregory Mercier ◽  
Azim Shariff ◽  
Adam Norris
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mentally Ill ◽  
News Article ◽  
Mass Shootings ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Extremist Groups

Objective: We test whether prejudice can influence lay attributions of mental illness to perpetrators of violence. Specifically, we examine whether people with negative attitudes towards Muslims perceive Muslim mass shooters as less mentally ill than non-Muslim shooters. Method: Study 1 compares attributions of mental illness to Muslim and non-Muslim perpetrators of recent mass shootings. Studies 2 and 3 experimentally test whether a mass shooter described in a news article is seen as less mentally ill when described as being a Muslim, compared to when described as a Christian (Study 2) and to when religion is not mentioned (Study 3). Study 4 tests whether a Muslim shooter is seen as less mentally ill than a Christian shooter, even when both shooters have symptoms of mental illness. Results: In all studies, Muslim shooters were seen as less mentally ill than non-Muslim shooters, but only by those with negative views towards Muslims. Conclusion: Those with anti-Muslim prejudices perceive Muslim mass shooters as less mentally ill, likely to maintain culpability and fit narratives about terrorism. This may reinforce anti-Muslim attitudes by leading those with anti-Muslim prejudice to overestimate the amount of violence inspired by groups like ISIS relative to extremist groups from other ideologies.

Psychotic symptoms in mass shootings v. mass murders not involving firearms: findings from the Columbia mass murder database

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Gary Brucato ◽  
Paul S. Appelbaum ◽  
Hannah Hesson ◽  
Eileen A. Shea ◽  
Gabriella Dishy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Drug Use ◽  
Legal History ◽  
Alcohol Misuse ◽  
Mass Murder ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Psychotic Symptoms ◽  
Mass Shootings ◽  
Fully Automatic ◽  
Mass Murders

Abstract Background Mass shootings account for a small fraction of annual worldwide murders, yet disproportionately affect society and influence policy. Evidence suggesting a link between mass shootings and severe mental illness (i.e. involving psychosis) is often misrepresented, generating stigma. Thus, the actual prevalence constitutes a key public health concern. Methods We examined global personal-cause mass murders from 1900 to 2019, amassed by review of 14 785 murders publicly described in English in print or online, and collected information regarding perpetrator, demographics, legal history, drug use and alcohol misuse, and history of symptoms of psychiatric or neurologic illness using standardized methods. We distinguished whether firearms were or were not used, and, if so, the type (non-automatic v. semi- or fully-automatic). Results We identified 1315 mass murders, 65% of which involved firearms. Lifetime psychotic symptoms were noted among 11% of perpetrators, consistent with previous reports, including 18% of mass murderers who did not use firearms and 8% of those who did (χ2 = 28.0, p < 0.01). US-based mass shooters were more likely to have legal histories, use recreational drugs or misuse alcohol, or have histories of non-psychotic psychiatric or neurologic symptoms. US-based mass shooters with symptoms of any psychiatric or neurologic illness more frequently used semi-or fully-automatic firearms. Conclusions These results suggest that policies aimed at preventing mass shootings by focusing on serious mental illness, characterized by psychotic symptoms, may have limited impact. Policies such as those targeting firearm access, recreational drug use and alcohol misuse, legal history, and non-psychotic psychopathology might yield more substantial results.

scholarly journals The Variability of Nursing Attitudes Toward Mental Illness: An Integrative Review

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 788-796 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krystyna de Jacq ◽  
Allison Andreno Norful ◽  
Elaine Larson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Integrative Review ◽  
Attitudes Toward Mental Illness

Correlates of Change in Attitudes toward Mental Illness among Vocational Nursing Students

1981 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margo A. Napoletano
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Nursing Students ◽  
Attitude Change ◽  
Student Nurses ◽  
Cognitive Components ◽  
Psychology Courses ◽  
Vocational Nursing Students ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
Attitudes Toward Mental Illness ◽  
Changing Attitudes

Those 16 students who had completed the two psychology courses (a) tended to complete the practicum and (b) reported being more influenced by experiential rather than cognitive components of the practicum. In view of the previously reported findings of favorable attitude change following a psychiatric practicum for the students who had completed the two psychology courses, over-all results presented in both reports (a) confirm previous studies which suggest the effectiveness of a psychiatric practicum in changing nursing students' attitudes toward mental illness and (b) empirically support Rabkin's 1977 statement that academic instruction seems maximally effective in combination with factors such as personal experience with mental patients, etc. (as reported by the student nurses) in changing attitudes toward mental illness.

Children's Attitudes toward Mental Illness as Assessed by the Opinions about Mental Illness Scale

1985 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 251-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Franchot Weiss
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Mentally Ill ◽  
Psychiatric Patients ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Elementary School Age ◽  
The Public ◽  
Children's Attitudes ◽  
Attitudes Toward Mental Illness ◽  
Opinions About Mental Illness

Research on attitudes toward mental illness held by the public, by mental health professionals and personnel, and by psychiatric patients and their families is substantial. Little attention has been given to children's attitudes toward mental illness and the mentally ill, so this exploratory-descriptive study examined the developmental trends of children's attitudes toward the mentally ill. An adaptation of the Opinions About Mental Illness Scale was given to 512 elementary school age children who were placed in Grades 2, 4, 6, and 8. It was determined that with increasing grade/age children took a less authoritarian attitude toward the mentally ill and viewed mentally ill persons as more like themselves. Children rook an increasingly parernalistic view of the mentally ill, were less likely to see mental illness as an illness like any other, perceived mental patients as less of a threat to society and needing fewer restrictions. Finally, with increasing age/grade children perceived mental illness as less likely attributable to inadequate, deprived or interpersonal experiences. Results were discussed in terms of a relatively increased “positive attitude” and the relative acceptance and rejection of the mentally ill.

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