Back in My Day: Generational Beliefs About School Shootings

Following a school shooting, the public and media search to understand what factors led to such tragedy. Faced with grief, fear, and confusion, people often seek to make sense of traumatic events. As such, this study uses a 2020 Amazon Mechanical Turk survey (N = 739) to examine the impact of generational cohort on the blameworthiness of various perceived causes of school shootings. Findings support some generational differences. Baby Boomers were more likely to believe in societal-related causes of school shootings compared to Millennials and Generation Z. Conversely, Millennials and Generation Z were more likely than Baby Boomers to attribute the cause of school shootings to bullying, mental health, and school security. These findings suggest that future school shooting policies will seek to address bullying, mental health, and school security, while policies surrounding societal factors may be phased out.