Media coverage of mass shootings by a shooter who is mentally ill can have a negative impact on the public’s attitudes towards mental illness, says a new study by Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study was announced on March 20, 2013, and is the first to confirm that the way that mentally ill shooters are depicted heightens negative attitudes among readers.
The researchers also analyzed the impact of these new stories on public feelings about gun violence and on imposing a ban on large-capacity magazines. Researchers compared public sentiment among those who read news stories about violence and those who did not. When participants read news articles about mass shootings by people with mental illness, they increased their support for restricting access to guns for people with serious mental illnesses and for a ban on large-capacity ammunition magazines.
Researchers say that the results, which was published in the April issue of the “American Journal of Psychiatry,” has significant implications for policymakers and advocates who promote gun safety policies.
“The aftermath of mass shootings is often viewed as a window of opportunity to garner support for policies to reduce gun violence, and this study finds public support for such policies increases after reading news stories about a mass shooting,” said lead study author Emma (Beth) E. McGinty, MS, a PhD candidate with the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, part of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “However, we also found that the public’s negative attitudes toward persons with serious mental illness are exacerbated by news media accounts of mass shootings involving a shooter with mental illness.”
Most people with serious mental illnesses are not violent, according to research. Gun violence and serious mental illness have a complex relationship that involves many factors such as substance abuse. When people with mental illness are stigmatized, they may be reluctant to seek treatment and create barriers to care.
The research team used a national online sample of 1, 797 adults that was divided into four groups:
- a control group who did not read news stories about shooters with mental illness
- a group who read a news item describing a mass shooting by a person with a serious mental illness
- a group which read a news story describing the same mass shooting and a proposal for gun restrictions for persons with serious mental illnesses
- a group which read a story describing the same mass shooting and a proposal to ban large-capacity magazines
Key findings of the study
- Among study respondents who read a news story describing a mass shooting, 79% supported policies restricting gun for people with mental illness, compared to 71% in the control group who did not read the sotry
- 54 percent of respondents who read a news story of a mass shooting thought persons with serious mental illness wre likely to be dangerous, compared to 40% in the control group
- News stories that included proposed gun restriction measures for people with serious mental illnesses or bans on large-capacity magazines did not affect the study participants’ attitudes towards mentally ill people
“While our study confirms news stories on mass shootings involving a shooter with mental illness contribute to negative perceptions of mental illness, our study results indicate that discussions of gun policies designed to keep firearms from individuals who have a serious mental illness do not lead to greater stigma,” said study author Daniel Webster, ScD, MPH, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research. “As states across the U.S. consider restrictions on gun access among those with serious mental illness, future research should examine whether such policies deter people with mental illness from seeking treatment.”
