Return to search

Evaluating the Utility of Theories of Social Integration in Understanding Areal Suicide Rates in the United States

Despite over a century's worth of study, areal variations in suicide rate remain largely unexplained. In order to better understand these regional differences, this analysis aggregates county-level National Center for Health Statistics Multiple Cause of Death data with data from the US Census, the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, and the Penn State Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development to test the three leading conceptualizations of social integration (i.e. demographic, compositional, ecological) against US suicide rates. Results of negative binomial regression models indicate that an ecological measure, social capital, is substantially associated with suicide rate, while demographic and compositional measures do not appear to be significantly associated with suicide rate, robust of controls, speaking to the role of social ties in preventing suicide. These findings highlight both the changing nature of social integration and the role that this plays in suicide prevention.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:pdx.edu/oai:pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu:open_access_etds-6114
Date04 June 2019
CreatorsParsons, Nathan Finch
PublisherPDXScholar
Source SetsPortland State University
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceDissertations and Theses

Page generated in 0.0021 seconds