Kevin D. Breault

Suicide in America: A Test of Durkheim's Theory of Religious and Family Integration, 1933-1980

With a set of relevant controls, including population change, income, urbanity, unemployment, and female labor-force participaion, Durkheims religious and family integration hypotheses are tested with new and highly reliable church membership rates and similar divorce rates. Eight data sets are analyzed at two levels of analysis, state and county: 50 states at six different times betwen 1933 and 1980 and 216 counties in 1970 and 1980. The religous and family integration variables are generally supported at both levels of analysis and across the 47 years of the study. Contrary to previous studies, support is found for Durkheims thesis that Catholics have lower suicide rates than non-Catholics. Strong Catholic/non-Catholic suicide differences are found even when the analysis is extended to 414 counties in 1970 and 1980.

New Evidence on Religious Pluralism, Urbanism, and Religious Participation

In a recent issue of ASR, Finke and Stark (1988) reported results that contradict long-standing views on the relationship between religious pluralism, urbanism, and religious participation. They argue that religious pluralism and urbanism are positively related to religious participation. The present paper disputes the generality of Finke and Starks findings with both methodological criticisms and new data. With regard to pluralism, although the traditional views are supported, a new theoretical interpretation is introduced and empirically supported: religious pluralism appears to have differential effects on religious participation, depending on the religious makeup of the religious community along a liberal-to-conservative continuum. Finally, the best evidence suggests that there probably is not an important rural-urban difference in the rate of church adherents today.

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.

The effects of marital status and social isolation on adult male homicides in the United States: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Mortality Study

With data from the 1979–1985 Longitudinal Mortality Study, we examine the effects of marital status and social isolation on adult male homicide (ICD-9 Codes E960-E978). Cox proportional hazards models were fitted to a 1979–1981 population cohort of approximately 200,000 adult men and their mortality experiences were followed until 1984–1985. Multivariate hazards regression analysis showed that marital status and social isolation are associated with significantly higher risks of homicide victimization. Controlling for age and other socioeconomic covariates, single persons were 1.9 times, and divorced, separated or widowed persons were 1.7 times, more likely to die from homicide than married persons. Socially isolated persons were 1.6 times more likely to become homicide victims. Other adult males with increased risk of homicide victimization were African Americans and those who lived in the inner city.

Suicide as a Learned Behavior.

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The effects of marital status on adult female homicides in the United States

With data from the 1992 Mortality Detail File, we examine the effects of marital status on female homicide victimization in the United States. Multivariate logistic regression was fitted to all female homicide deaths occuring in 1992. Results indicate that, controlling for race, education, nativity, city size, region of the country, occupation, age, day of the week, and month of the year, divorced females were 55.3% more likely to be homicide victims than married females. Notably, single women did not differ from married women with respect to homicide risk. Finally, widowed women were significantly less likely to be homicide victims than married women. The results suggest a complicated relationship between marital status and female homicide victimization.

Psychophysical measurement and the validity of the modern economic approach: A presentation of methods and preliminary experiments

Abstract The modern economic approach to human behavior and social interaction argues that people maximize the subjective theoretical quantity utility. This primary presupposition has resisted all empirical tests and a consensus has developed that it is unfalsifiable. A promising new approach to the problem is introduced in the paper through research on the psychophysical measurement of the marginal utility of money and commitment. The research reported here suggests that the utility function for money conforms to the power law and has an exponent of about .43. The paper also examines the advisability of broadening the utility function to cover social variables. An operationalization of the concept of commitment was examined using psychophysical techniques with the result that people appear to have utility for commitment, that a power function is involved, and that the exponent is in the vicinity of .36.

Beyond the Quick and Dirty: Problems Associated with Analyses Based on Small Samples of Large Ecological Aggregates: Reply to Girard

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