Revisiting the Case of Kayla Rolland a Decade Later: Ecological Systems Analysis

Several notorious school shooting incidents within the past decades prompted school officials and lawmakers to create and implement programs and policies that would prevent violence in schools and ensure school safety. Despite the number of explanations by the media, politicians, organizations, and researchers, we are not united in our understanding of the risk factors in school shooting cases, particularly those that affect racial minorities in low-income neighborhoods. The focus of this article is to examine the Kayla Rolland shooting incident in the context of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems analysis. We assessed several major risk factors, which operate within 5 system levels (the micro-, meso-, exo-, macro-, and chrono-systems), and draw implications for assessment, prevention, and intervention.

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