Association of temporal factors and suicides in the United States, 2000–2004

The purpose of the study was to examine the association of temporal factors, in particular days of the week and seasons of the year and death from suicide in the United States. Data were pooled from the Multiple Cause of Death Files. Hierarchical logistic regression models were fitted to all deaths occurring in 2000 through 2004 by suicide. The incidence of suicide was significantly higher on Wednesdays, compared to Sunday. Specifically, individuals were 99% more likely to kill themselves on Wednesday than on Sunday. Suicides were more prevalent in the summer months, and they were less likely to occur in winter. The state suicide rate significantly elevated individual suicide risk. The results held even after controlling for the potentially confounding effects of socio-economic and demographic variables at both the individual and state levels. It was concluded that the observed association between seasonality and suicide cannot be discounted as a mere coincidence. Future research ought to focus on integrating individual level data and contextual variables when testing for seasonality effects

Association of temporal factors and suicides in the United States, 2000–2004

The purpose of the study was to examine the association of temporal factors, in particular days of the week and seasons of the year and death from suicide in the United States. Data were pooled from the Multiple Cause of Death Files. Hierarchical logistic regression models were fitted to all deaths occurring in 2000 through 2004 by suicide. The incidence of suicide was significantly higher on Wednesdays, compared to Sunday. Specifically, individuals were 99% more likely to kill themselves on Wednesday than on Sunday. Suicides were more prevalent in the summer months, and they were less likely to occur in winter. The state suicide rate significantly elevated individual suicide risk. The results held even after controlling for the potentially confounding effects of socio-economic and demographic variables at both the individual and state levels. It was concluded that the observed association between seasonality and suicide cannot be discounted as a mere coincidence. Future research ought to focus on integrating individual level data and contextual variables when testing for seasonality effects

The effect of survivalism-self-expressionism culture on black male suicide acceptability: A cross-national analysis

Cultural explanations of black suicide have focused on the US and stressed religiosity as a protective factor. This paper adds to this literature by (1) expanding the analysis of the impact of religiosity on black suicide to 10 nations, and (2) assessing the extent to which a broader cultural construct (self expressionism) affects black suicide acceptability. Data are from Wave 4 of the World Values Surveys 1991-2001 and refer to 3580 black males nested in ten countries. A hierarchical linear regression model determined that religiosity predicted black suicide acceptability across ten nations. Self expressionism was positively associated with individual level suicide acceptability. Further, a cross-level interaction was found wherein individual level and societal level self expressionism combined to affect suicide acceptability. The variability in suicide acceptability among black males is predicted, in part, by both individual and group levels of adherence to values contained in a major cultural axis of nations: self expressionism. These new found associations compliment the impact of a standard predictor, religiosity, on suicide acceptability.Suicide Culture Race African American World values surveys Hierarchical linear models Religion Men

Latino Officers and Their Involvement in Police Shootings

With an emphasis to examine Latino officers who have been involved in police shootings, this study analyzed twenty-one years (1990–2010) of data from one of the largest law enforcement departments in the United States. The study compared Latino population trends in the United States, the State of California, a southern California County, and focused on the representativeness of Latinos in one southern California law enforcement department. The analysis further investigated police shootings by the race of the officer, narrowing the focus to determine whether an increasing representativeness of Latino officers had any effect on police shootings. Results revealed that while the percentage of White officers in the department decreased and Latino officers increased, so too did their involvement in police shootings. Most surprisingly, Latino officer-involved shootings outpaced their growth in the department by a factor of 3.3 and in the county by a factor of more than 4

Mental health and suicide: An ecological hierarchical analysis of U.S. counties and states

Suicide is a leading cause of death both nationally and internationally (World Health Organization 2008; Nock et al. 2008, 2009). Recent statistics show that in 2000 there were an estimated one million suicides worldwide, a figure that translates into an alarming calculation of 1 suicide death every 40 seconds. Especially bothersome is the observation that the world’s suicide rate has increased steadily over the last 50 years. For instance, the male suicide rate rose from 17 per 100,000 in 1950 to 28 per 100,000 in 2000, and suicide now ranks as the world’s 13th leading cause of death (World Health Organization 2008; Stack and Kposowa 2011). Recent concerns have focused especially on the rise in suicide among youth and the associated rise in years of potential life lost (Stack and Kposowa 2011). The proportion of suicides among the relatively young to early middle age group (ages 5–44) rose from 40% of all suicides in 1950% to 55% of all suicides in 2000. World-wide, suicide now ranks as the third leading cause of death for the young (World Health Organization 2008). Given the increasing young age of suicide victims, years of potential life lost in suicides is much higher than for the top leading causes of death, cancer and heart disease (Stack and Kposowa 2011). For every completed suicide, there are family members and significant others whose lives are severely affected emotionally, economically, and socially by the death

Testing a Crime Control Model: Does Strategic and Directed Deployment of Police Officers Lead to Lower Crime?

The purpose of the paper was to investigate whether implementation of a crime control model (based, in part, on the concepts of COMPSTAT) in one southern California city was effective in reducing crime. Time series regression models were fitted to data collected from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, city of Perris, for the years 2000 through 2010. Additional data were collected from three other cities that served as controls. Results showed that the program was effective in reducing crime rates in Perris. The effect remained significant even after taking into account time trends and control cities. Analysis also found that while the program was more effective in lessening total and property crime rates, it was less so for violent crime rates. It was concluded that strategic and directed policing models (e.g., COMPSTAT, hot spot policing, etc.) may be more effective in crime reduction efforts than reactive policing methods