TY  - GEN
A1  - Bondü, Rebecca
A1  - Scheithauer, Herbert
T1  - Narcissistic symptoms in German school shooters
T2  - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe
N2  - School shooters are often described as narcissistic, but empirical evidence is scant. To provide more reliable and detailed information, we conducted an exploratory study, analyzing police investigation files on seven school shootings in Germany, looking for symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV) in witnesses' and offenders' reports and expert psychological evaluations. Three out of four offenders who had been treated for mental disorders prior to the offenses displayed detached symptoms of narcissism, but none was diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder. Of the other three, two displayed narcissistic traits. In one case, the number of symptoms would have justified a diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder. Offenders showed low and high self-esteem and a range of other mental disorders. Thus, narcissism is not a common characteristic of school shooters, but possibly more frequent than in the general population. This should be considered in developing adequate preventive and intervention measures.
T3  - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 392 
KW  - school shooting
KW  - narcissism
KW  - personality disorder
KW  - risk factor
KW  - rampage
Y1  - 2018
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-404452
IS  - 392
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Bondü, Rebecca
A1  - Scheithauer, Herbert
T1  - Narcissistic Symptoms in German School Shooters
JF  - International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology
N2  - School shooters are often described as narcissistic, but empirical evidence is scant. To provide more reliable and detailed information, we conducted an exploratory study, analyzing police investigation files on seven school shootings in Germany, looking for symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV) in witnesses' and offenders' reports and expert psychological evaluations. Three out of four offenders who had been treated for mental disorders prior to the offenses displayed detached symptoms of narcissism, but none was diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder. Of the other three, two displayed narcissistic traits. In one case, the number of symptoms would have justified a diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder. Offenders showed low and high self-esteem and a range of other mental disorders. Thus, narcissism is not a common characteristic of school shooters, but possibly more frequent than in the general population. This should be considered in developing adequate preventive and intervention measures.
KW  - school shooting
KW  - narcissism
KW  - personality disorder
KW  - risk factor
KW  - rampage
Y1  - 2015
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X14544155
SN  - 0306-624X
SN  - 1552-6933
VL  - 59
IS  - 14
SP  - 1520
EP  - 1535
PB  - Sage Publ.
CY  - Thousand Oaks
ER  -