Does Pathological Shyness Make for School Shooters?

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But it's important not to stigmatize shy kids, other experts emphasized.

"Shyness is not inherently a good or bad thing," said Heather Henderson, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Miami. "But one thing we know about shyness in boys, particularly in North America, they seem to be particularly at risk for maladaptive outcomes. We expect boys to be more outgoing and assertive. Boys are particularly sensitive and are exposed to cues from other people that shyness is not a good thing."

According to the study authors, there are a number of subtypes of shyness, cynical shyness being just one.

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For the study, Carducci and a co-author examined news accounts and background information on seven high school shooting cases involving eight teen shooters between 1995 and 2004. Those individuals were:

• Jeffrey Weise -- 16, killed seven people at Red Lake High School in Minnesota as well as his grandfather and grandfather's girlfriend in 2005;
• Jamie Rouse -- 17, killed one student and one teacher at Richland High School in Tennessee in 1995;
• Luke Woodham -- 17, killed two people at Pearl High School in Mississippi in 1997;
• Barry Loukaitis -- 14, killed three at Frontier Junior High in Washington state in 1996;
• Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold -- 18 and 17 years old, they killed 12 students and a teacher at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999;
• Michael Carneal -- 14, killed three girls at Heath High School in Kentucky in 1997;
• Kip Kinkel -- 15, killed his parents and two classmates at Thurston High School in Oregon in 1998.

Weise, the two Columbine killers and Kinkel had a "cynically shy score" of 10 (on a scale of 10). Rouse, Woodham and Loukaitis had scores of 8, and Carneal had a score of 6, the researchers said.

Cynically shy people tend to be male and want to relate to other people but just don't know how. As a result, they get rejected, and feelings of hurt gradually turn into intense rage, the study authors said.

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