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Table 3 Characteristics of the index school massacre threat in 77 adolescent copycats

From: The copycat phenomenon after two Finnish school shootings: an adolescent psychiatric perspective

 

n

%

How the index threat was expressed

  

orally expressed to a teacher/school friends/therapist

43

56

in a letter/note/essay/exam paper

17

22

via Internet

17

22

A - Action

  

Positive attitudes towards aggressive behavior in general

  

yes

58

75

not clear from files

12

16

no

7

9

Positive attitudes towards previous school shootings

  

yes

43

56

no

19

25

not clear from files

15

19

Felt justification for the attack

  

yes

58

75

not clear from files

15

19

no

4

5

Motive

  

revenge against identified persons

34

44

anger and hatred in general

27

35

desire to die (homicide-suicide fantasy)

24

31

wanting attention

4

5

joke

3

4

unclear

2

3

C – Capacity to fulfill the threat

  

yes

42

55

not clear from files

18

23

no

17

22

T – Thresholdscrossed

  

no preparations made

46

60

preparations made

20

26

not clear from files

11

14

I - Intention for the index threat

  

passive thinking

56

73

clear intention

14

18

not clear from files

7

9

O – Others’ reactions

  

parents took the threat seriously

38

49

parents did not take the threat seriously/disparaged the threat

19

25

parents were ambivalent

18

23

not clear from files

2

3

N – Non-compliance to risk reaction

  

the adolescent was against psychiatric evaluation/treatment

44

57

the adolescent was ambivalent to psychiatric evaluation/treatment

17

22

the adolescent was neutral or positive to psychiatric evaluation/treatment

16

21

not clear from the files

0

0