Russell T. Jones was once on an airplane with a rocket scientist who explained the plane was flying because several engines were working together and compensating for each other. He called that phenomenon “gimbling.”
According to Jones, a similar phenomenon helped members of the Virginia Tech community after the April 16, 2007, campus shootings claimed 32 lives. He and Michael Hughes, a Tech sociology professor, recently published a study that found 15.4 percent of Tech students showed symptoms of trauma after the tragedy — a significantly lower number than studies of other shootings have shown.
“Following the Virginia Tech shootings we were ‘gimbling,’” Jones said. “We were coming together, developing relationships to move forward in the recovery process. Help is available following any kind of traumatic experience, that’s the bottom line.”
Hughes’ and Jones’ study is the first large-scale survey of college students after a mass shooting incident on a campus.
In the study, they surveyed 4,639 students three months after the shootings occurred to assess symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Read the full story at the Virginia Tech Collegiate Times.
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