Correlation Does Not Equal Causation

There is a memory I have of my younger brother when we were kids. Whenever we sat down to eat, he would stand on his chair to reach across the table to look for or to ask for the salt shaker. I remember asking him why he used the salt shaker before tasting his food. His response? "It makes my food cool down." Now, I am the queen of facial expressions and I am sure I gave him the look. But that was what he believed and there was no talking him out of what he thought was the truth. What he did not understand at that age was that it was not the salt that cooled down his meal. The salt shaker was not always on the table, especially at our house. Sometimes the salt shaker was on the counter, the stove top, the sink; and, one time, outside in the backyard. It was the time it took to find the salt shaker and to use it that cooled down his food, not the salt itself. Correlation Does Not Equal Causation.

So, when I read in the news today that the shooter in Parkland, Florida had been adopted, I immediately shook my head. I thought of all of the adoptees I have worked with, work with now, and know in my personal life. How many intrusive questions will be added to the list asked of adoptees about their take on the shooting and the shooter? How will adoptees have to handle being the spokesperson of all adoptees? What will adoptive parents and adoptees have to prepare for when someone asks them about personal details of their child's biological family? What I worry about the most is how many of my kids will become worried that they will grow up to commit mass murder. How many trolls on Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter will start saying that being adopted causes violence and aggression? How many school bullies will taunt adoptees about the shooting? I just know that I will talking about how Correlation Does Not Equal Causation for a long time. Or, at least, until the next sensational headline about something else.

We do not know much about the young man who committed the mass shooting. All we know is that he had been adopted and had a history of behavioral problems. CNN reported he had been "expelled [from school] for unspecified disciplinary reasons." We have to remember he had not been expelled for being an adoptee or because of adoption. We also have to remember he did not grow up to commit this crime because he had been adopted. We do not know about prenatal insults or the quality of his care during the first three years of his life. We do not know if he was under the influence of substances. We do not know if he qualified for a mental health diagnosis and if he was under the care of a therapist or psychiatrist. Also, he lost his adoptive mother recently. The loss of a second mother is profound for adoptees. The loss of the second mother slams into the loss of the birth mother, leaving a feeling of being forsaken. But, and I must emphasize, he did not do this because he had been adopted. Correlation Does Not Equal Causation.