social isolation and school shootings

My colleague Bernice Pescosolido, one of the leading social scientists who studies mental health, has some insightful commentary on violence and social isolation:

Adam Lanza’s mother, Nancy, took him out of Newtown High School and home-schooled him to get his GED. Ryan Lanza said he hadn’t seen his younger brother since 2010, and reports indicate that Adam Lanza hadn’t even left the confines of his home for some time.

“Isolation is more deadly than smoking in terms of mortality,” said Pescosolido, an authority on medical sociology and social issues in health, illness, and healing. “People who are not engaged are more predisposed to suicide,” she pointed out. “Those who don’t have a meaningful connection to norms in society are more predisposed to take their own life.”

Recommended.

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