LOL. This is bullshit. some anecdata: Black women generally have the least access to mental health, but I've never heard of a black woman doing a mass shooting. White men have the the most access, but most mass shootings are done by white men. So this doesn't hold up.
Also, "mental health issues" is such a huge term it encompasses like half the population. "mass shootings" are incredibly rare compared to "people with mental health issues"
Also, aside from simply saying, "anyone who would do a mass shooting has mental health issues", there's not a great correlation between mass shooters and mental health issues. You're better off with "white" or "male".
Do you have any evidence to support that statement? Is there actually data that shows single parent homes produce more violent/dangerous people? I don't think there is.
Given that the divorce rate in the US is like 50%, you're tarring an awful lot of people with that very broad brush.
I agree with most of this. However, I think the "single parent home thing" has been validated by some statistical evidence with one key modifier that doesn't get mentioned: income levels and, of course, culture as it relates to proximity of violence.
My hypothesis is that the closer you are to violence, the more likely you are to become victim to it and victim=victim of violence and/or someone that becomes violent in response to your surroundings.
I grew up in the projects in Chelsea, MA until I was 16. My dad got hooked on drugs when I was young, did a bunch of violent stuff to myself and my mom, and was in prison by the time I was six. We ended up in the projects while my mother went to school and worked two jobs. When she got a "good job," the housing authority takes a bigger chunk of your paycheck, so you can never really save as a mom w/ two kids.
If you know anything about Chelsea, it was one of the most violent cities in America for years (including during my childhood and teenage years). Mostly because there was a tremendous surge of gang violence mixed with a very tiny footprint (just over 1.5 square miles).
By the time I was 10 years old, I had been held at knifepoint twice (once for two dollars, once because an older guy thought it was funny). I saw my first clinically dead body before I was 12 (and who knows how many other ODs that ended up dying). By the time I was 15, I had been a few feet away from walking into gang related gun violence, had a firearm pulled on me because some gang member thought I was another gang rival from afar, and had been at a birthday party where someone shots had come through a window. Many of the kids from Chelsea I attended high school with ended up in prison, including murder and attempted murder. More than I can count for firearms and drug charges, all before the age of 21. These are just the people I knew of directly, on a first-name basis.
Numerous opportunities as a kid and teenager to end up in a bad spot, most of the time just through wrong place and wrong time. I wasn't hanging out with the "bad kids," but every kid was inevitably a "bad kid" just by proximity. I walked the edge many times, but never crossed over, and luckily no one ever pushed me over.
Why did I turn out different that 99% of my peers of the same age? For one, I had a good extended family including uncles that were cops/firefighters. But more than anything, I was taught right from wrong, it was constantly enforced, and my mom set a good example of overcoming adversity by working hard and non-stop while the other people living in the projects were scamming the system, working under the table, lying about income, and producing more children for more benefits. We were driving a beat down Buick with elastic bands holding the seat up while our neighbors were buying new cars, some on a yearly basis, even though they had "no income."
In other words, even though I grew up raised in the projects w/ a single mother, I had numerous chances to escape violent activity by proxy because my mom and extended family put an emphasis on me forming friendships and relationships with those outside of where I was living. For just about everyone else living their, they didn't have that. And while growing up this way sucks, I think it gave me many lessons and a level of resilience I wouldn't have had otherwise. And looking back, some of my early childhood friends diverged in their teenage years because they weren't just exposed to a violent lifestyle, they were expected to thrive in it.
So, there certainly is something to single motherhood and violence. But it's mostly because where single motherhood dumps you off in life, which is around other single moms, in low-income, high-violent areas. Even if you've landed there through no fault of your own (as in my case), the dark side of the force is constantly pulling you in one direction, and it takes a crazy combination of will power, determination, luck, and support to not fall into a trap.
