{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T17:53:24Z","timestamp":1791395604313,"version":"4.3.3"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791331200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Study examined parental perceptions of their own and children\u2019s mental health and behavioural responses among parents who were not directly or indirectly exposed to the 2023 school shooting in Serbia.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The study sample included 1,927 parents. The questionnaire assessed pre-event child mental health characteristics and support utilisation, parental threat perception, emotional distress, functional disruption of daily routines, observed child emotional and behavioural changes, help-seeking behaviour, and perceived access to mental health support.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Prior to the shooting, 11.7% of children had a psychiatric diagnosis. Following the shooting, 85.2% of parents reported moderate-to-high concern for child safety, 38.7% reported marked difficulty sending children back to school, and 48.0% reported difficulty controlling intrusive thoughts about child victimization. Most parents observed no emotional or behavioural changes in their children; this finding should be interpreted as an absence of parent-observed changes rather than clinically defined resilience, given the reliance on parental report alone. However, children with pre-existing difficulties showed significantly higher rates of post-event worsening. Mothers reported greater distress and impairment than fathers across all domains. Post-event utilisation of formal mental health services was low (3.8% for children, 2.9% for self).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Findings suggest that mass school shootings may be associated with substantial parental distress and functional disruption even without direct or indirect exposure. The gap between epidemiological estimates and low pre-event diagnosis rates raises concern about possible under-recognition of child mental health needs. Low help-seeking highlights the importance of accessible, non-stigmatising psychosocial support, particularly school-based psychoeducation, rather than formal clinical treatment alone. Findings should be interpreted in light of methodological limitations.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1847185","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T17:10:11Z","timestamp":1791393011000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Parental perceptions of child and family mental health and behavioural adjustment following a mass school shooting in Serbia"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Miodrag","family":"Stankovic","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Medical Faculty, University of Nis","place":["Ni\u0161, Serbia"]},{"name":"Centre of Mental Health Protection, University Clinical Centre of Nis","place":["Ni\u0161, Serbia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Aleksandra","family":"Stojanovic","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre of Mental Health 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