Angela Moreland, PhD: Mass Shooting Ripple Effect on Community, PTSD Development

Angela Moreland, PhD

Credit: MUSC Medical University of South Carolina

A recent study found 1 in 4 adults in the community—and not only direct survivors or witnesses—meet PTSD criteria following a mass shooting. This cross-sectional survey, conducted from February 2020 to September 2020, identified those at most risk for developing PTSD following a mass violence incident: being female, younger, having low social support, and a history of physical or sexual assault.

The sample included adults from 6 communities who had most likely experienced a mass violence incidence between 2015 and 2019 in Dayton, Ohio; El Paso, Texas; Parkland, Florida; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; San Bernadino, California; and Virginia Beach, Virginia. Among 5991 adults aged ≥ 18 years who completed the survey, nearly one-quarter (23.7%) of participants met probable DSM-5 diagnosis criteria for past-year PTSD, and 8.9% met the criteria for current PTSD (last month).

Lead investigator Angela Moreland, PhD, an associate professor at the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center (NCVC) at the Medical University of South Carolina, MUSC, spoke with HCPLive about the implications of the study’s findings.

HCPLive: Can you discuss the study’s findings?

Moreland: I work with the National Mass Violence Center, and one of the major pieces that we focus on is the impact of mass violence incidents. When someone is involved in a mass violence incident, what is the impact [on] individuals and communities following that incident?

So, what we were looking at in this study is particularly looking at communities themselves, so outside of the people that are directly involved in the incident. For instance, if it's a school shooting or a shooting at a Walmart or another incident, we know that people who are present [at] the scene, there's been a lot of prior research showing that those direct victims are impacted, but what we wanted to see is how that ripple effect goes beyond the entire community.

We went into 6 communities who had experienced mass violence incidents…and interviewed or provided surveys to community members that were living in those communities. None of the people that were part of the study were present at the incident. They were simply people that were exposed at multiple levels but just lived within the community.

What we found is, of those people who live within the community, their rates of PTSD were significantly higher than those of just the general population rates of what we would find. We found…almost a quarter, so 23.7% of community members, met criteria for PTSD in the past year, and almost 9% met criteria for current PTSD. That's [shows] that not only the people that are there during the incident are impacted, but also just everyone living in the community may be significantly impacted and may have symptoms of mental health disorders [such as] PTSD, even if they weren't present at the event.

We also looked at several additional factors to see what kind increased that risk. One of the pieces that we found is, if people had prior sexual or physical assault, they were at increased risk for PTSD. Those who had passed physical or sexual assault were 16 times more likely to report PTSD after a mass violence incident. That shows that they are just [at] a higher risk and that they're much more vulnerable to the impact of mass violence if they have experienced past sexual or physical assaults.

HCPLive: What was the largest takeaway from the study?

Moreland: It was really astonishing to see that people living in the community that did not have direct exposure…[had a] mental health impact to a level of needing help, so needing assistance for PTSD following an incident. [The largest takeaway was the] ripple effect and how much impact we found among the entire community from a diagnosable mental health standpoint.

HCPLive: What communities did you examine?

Moreland: We went [to] Parkland, Florida, El Paso, Texas, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, San Bernardino, California, Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Dayton, Ohio. At the time that we were putting together the study, these were mass violence incidents that had occurred within a couple of years prior. It wasn't immediately after, but about a year after the incident, and we specifically chose those incidents so that we could have a little bit of variability [in the] type of incident, type of city, and then also some hate-based type of crimes. We really wanted a range of different settings and a range of different cities so that we could really see if we're finding this impact amongst multiple different settings.

HCPLive: Is there anything else you would like to highlight about the study?

Moreland: I think just overall, being one of the first, or maybe the first study that's really looking at that community impact outside of the direct victims, [this shows] that mass violence is impacting much more than those direct victims that we typically tend to focus on.

References

1. ^{Moreland, A, Rancher, C, Davies, F. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Among Adults in Communities with Mass Violence Incidents. JAMA Network Open. 2024;7(7):e2423539. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.23539}
2. ^{Derman, C. 1 in 4 Adults in the Community Meet PTSD Criteria Following Mass Shooting. HCPLive. July 26, 2024. https://www.hcplive.com/view/1-in-4-adults-in-the-community-meet-ptsd-criteria-following-mass-shooting. Accessed August 5, 2024.}