Augustine J. Kposowa

Marital status and suicide in the National Longitudinal Mortality Study

OBJECTIVES The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of marital status on the risk of suicide, using a large nationally representative sample. A related objective was to investigate the association between marital status and suicide by sex. METHODS Cox proportional hazards regression models were applied to data from the National Longitudinal Mortality Study, based on the 1979–1989 follow up. In estimating the effect of marital status, adjustments were made for age, sex, race, education, family income, and region of residence. RESULTS For the entire sample, higher risks of suicide were found in divorced than in married persons. Divorced and separated persons were over twice as likely to commit suicide as married persons (RR=2.08, 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) 1.58, 2.72). Being single or widowed had no significant effect on suicide risk. When data were stratified by sex, it was observed that the risk of suicide among divorced men was over twice that of married men (RR=2.38, CI 1.77, 3.20). Among women, however, there were no statistically significant differentials in the risk of suicide by marital status categories. CONCLUSIONS Marital status, especially divorce, has strong net effect on mortality from suicide, but only among men. The study showed that in epidemiological research on suicide, more accurate results would be obtained if samples are stratified on the basis of key demographic or social characteristics. The study further observed that failure to control for relevant socioeconomic variables or combining men and women in the same models could produce misleading results.

Unemployment and suicide: a cohort analysis of social factors predicting suicide in the US National Longitudinal Mortality Study

BACKGROUND The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of employment status measured at baseline on the risk of suicide by years of follow-up, using a large nationally representative sample of the US population. METHODS Cox regression models were applied to data from the National Longitudinal Mortality Study, based on the 1979-1989 follow-up. In estimating the effect of baseline employment status on suicide, adjustments were made for baseline demographic and socio-economic variables. RESULTS After 3 years of follow-up, unemployed men were a little over twice as likely to commit suicide as their employed counterparts. Among men, the lower the socio-economic status, the higher the suicide risk. Among women, in each year of follow-up, the unemployed had a much higher suicide risk than the employed. After 9 years of follow-up unemployed women were over three times more likely to kill themselves than their employed counterparts. CONCLUSIONS Unemployment is strongly related to suicide, but this relationship is more enduring and stronger among women. For men, the unemployment effect is stronger at earlier years of follow-up. In women, unemployment increases the risk of suicide regardless of the number of follow-up years. The finding with regard to women disconfirms earlier research reports suggesting that unemployment affects suicide only in men.

Gender, place, and method of suicide

BackgroundThe goal of the study was to investigate whether women use less lethal methods in committing suicide than men. A related objective was to determine whether place of committing suicide influences method of suicide.MethodData on all completed suicides occurring in Riverside County from 1998 to 2001 were derived from original death certificates obtained from records of the County Coroner. Descriptive statistics on method and place of suicide by sex were computed and graphically presented. Multivariate logistic regression models were fitted to data on 643 suicide victims to estimate the unique effects of sex and place of suicide on the three most common methods observed: firearms, hanging, and drug poisoning.ResultsWomen were over 73% less likely to use firearms than men (OR = 0.267, CI = 0.172, 0.413). There were no sex differentials in hanging. Female victims were over 4 times more likely to die from drug poisoning than male victims (OR = 4.828, CI = 3.047, 7.650). When place of committing suicide was added to the equation, it was found that victims killing themselves at home were over 2.5 times as likely to use firearms as those dying in outdoor settings (OR = 2.501, CI = 1.078, 6.051). Persons committing suicide at home were over 3 times more likely to hang themselves than those killing themselves outdoors or on railway tracks (CI = 3.118, CI = 1.447, 6.718). Victims committing suicide at home were also 3 times as likely to use drugs as those dying outdoors or on railway tracks (OR = 3.118, CI = 1.242, 7.828). Hotel or motel suicides were 4.9 times more likely to use drug poisoning than outdoor or railway suicides (OR = 4.924, CI = 1.409, 17.206).ConclusionsThe proposition that women use less lethal methods of committing suicide than men was only partially supported by the data. It appears that the situation is more complex than a simple dichotomy between more lethal and less lethal methods. In past research, hanging has been considered a very lethal method. However, women were just as likely to hang themselves as men. Furthermore, firearm use was the second mode of suicide among women. The overall policy implication of this study is that suicide prevention efforts should concentrate not only on dissuading potential suicide victims, but also limiting access to firearms and promoting responsible firearm storage practices.

The Political Origins of African Military Coups: Ethnic Competition, Military Centrality, and the Struggle over the Postcolonial State

Military interventions are strategic in understanding “who gets what, when, and how” in postcolonial Africa. Building on past structural explanations of African coups, we examine two waves of military interventions and different types of coup events, as well as the coup intensity index, the traditional focus of analysis. We find strong support for military centrality and theories of ethnic plurality and competition. There is little evidence of a participation “overload” or of the “social unrest” produced by economic dependency. The early independence coups were rooted in ethnic plurality and competition plus strong militaries; those in the 1970s were rooted in ethnic political competition. Plots had a strong ethnic basis, attempts were facilitated by multipartyism and mobilization levels, and successful seizures by strong militaries. Domestic conflicts played only a small role, and lagging growth, although destabilizing, could not be explained by dependency. Future work should focus on ethnic struggles inside the military as well as civilian governments, the political institutions that regulate these power struggles, and the prospects for an elite settlement that would regularize political competition, eliminating irregular means for acquiring power.

Police Officer Characteristics and the Likelihood of Using Deadly Force

Past research on police shootings, when examining officer characteristics, has focused on the officers race, particularly when it is not the same as the race of the person shot. Data from 186 officer-involved shootings were used to examine whether race effects existed and, if so, would be eliminated or attenuated by controlling for officer gender, education, age, and history of shooting. Male officers were more likely to shoot than female officers, and college-educated officers were less likely to be involved in shootings than officers with no college education. Risk of officer-involved shooting was reduced as the officer aged. White, non-Hispanic officers were more likely to shoot than Hispanic officers; however, there was no significant difference between Hispanic and Black officers. Officers with a previous history of shooting were more than 51% as likely to shoot during the follow-up period as officers without a history of shootings.

Suicide mortality in the United States : Differentials by industrial and occupational groups

BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to investigate variations in the risk of suicide by industrial and occupational groups. METHODS Cox proportional hazards regression models were fitted to the data from the National Longitudinal Mortality Study (1979-1989). In estimating the effects of industry and occupation, controls were made for the potentially confounding effects of age, sex, marital status, education, income, and region of residence. RESULTS It was found that persons employed in mining experienced the highest risk of suicide (RR=4.29, CI=1.59, 12.13) compared to workers in finance, insurance, and real estate. Elevated risks were also observed among business and repair services (RR=4.20, CI=1.72, 10.25), professional and related services (RR=2.92, CI=1.25,6.82), and wholesale and retail trade (RR=2.71, CI=1.17,6.25). When comparisons were made by occupational status, it was found that laborers experienced the highest risk of suicide (RR=2.12, CI=1.09,4. 12) when compared to farmers, farm managers, and farm workers. CONCLUSIONS There are differentials in the risk of suicide among industrial groups, and the industry with the highest risk is mining. The disparities in suicide remained even after the effects of socioeconomic and other variables were controlled. Further research needs to determine if the high suicide risk observed in some industrial groups may be linked to possible depressive symptomatology in the workplace.

Reassessing the Structural Covariates of U.S. Homicide Rates: A County Level Study

Abstract Previous research on homicide rates, based mainly on samples of highly urbanized areas has produced inconsistent findings. In an effort to make greater progress and find possible reasons for the inconclusive results, the present study investigates homicide rates over a large sample of U.S. counties. Support is found for the southern subculture of violence theory, economic deprivation arguments, and social disorganization. Previous work ignored non-urban areas and neglected important race and ethnic correlates. Among other things, the present study finds that results based on urban areas cannot be generalized to the whole country, and a strong minority effect on homicide rates exists. This research further presents evidence to suggest that one of the main reasons for the inconsistent findings in past research is failure on the part of some investigators to be sensitive to problems arising from multicollinearity among model covariates.

Explaining Divorce in the United States: A Study of 3,111 Counties, 1980.

Three indicators of social integration--church membership population change and [urban status]--are tested with a group of socioeconomic variables and median population age on rates of divorce for 3111 U.S. counties 1980. The study replicates findings of previous studies that have shown comparatively strong effects of social integration and weak socioeconomic effects on divorce. [Urban status] was found to be most strongly related to divorce with church membership and population change equally half as strong. Weaker correlates of divorce in order of importance are: median family income median age rate of unemployment and percentage Hispanic. Percentage employed in professions percentage high school graduates and percentage black were found to be unrelated to divorce. New discussion is offered on the hypothesized relationship between [urban status] and low social integration. (EXCERPT)

Immigration and Suicide: The Role of Marital Status, Duration of Residence, and Social Integration

The purpose of the study was to assess the impact of immigration on suicide. An unmatched case-control design was employed. Data on cases were obtained on suicides in Riverside County, California, 1998 to 2001. Information on controls was obtained from the 2000 Census. Immigration increased suicide risk. Immigrant divorced persons were over 2 times more likely to commit suicide than natives. Single immigrants were nearly 2.6 times more likely to kill themselves than the native born. Shorter duration of residence was associated with higher suicide risk. Integration of immigrants in receiving societies is important for decreasing suicide. Policies aimed at reducing suicide should target more recent immigrants.

Divorce and suicide risk

There is accumulating evidence that divorced and separated people have much higher suicide rates than their married counterparts. In a previous paper published in this journal, it was observed that divorced and separated men were nearly 2.4 times more likely to kill themselves than their married counterparts.1 That study, however, failed to directly compare divorced men and women. While it informed us that divorced people are at higher risk of suicide than the married, it said nothing about the suicide risk of divorced men relative to divorced women. The purpose of this communication is to assess the magnitude of the differentials in suicide risk between the two groups, and explore …