State- and County-Level Social Capital as Predictors of County-Level Suicide Rates in the United States: A Lagged Multilevel Study

2021 ◽  
pp. 003335492097655
Author(s):  
Saloni Dev ◽  
Daniel Kim
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Capital ◽  
Black People ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Suicide Mortality ◽  
County Level ◽  
Standard Deviation Increase ◽  
Suicide Rates ◽  
Prevalence Of Depression

From 1999 through 2017, age-adjusted suicide rates in the United States rose by 33% (from 10.5 to 14.0 per 100 000 population). Social capital, a key social determinant of health, could protect against suicide, but empirical evidence on this association is limited. Using multilevel data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we explored state- and county-level social capital as predictors of age-adjusted suicide rates pooled from 2010 through 2017 across 2112 US counties. In addition, we tested for causal mediation of these associations by state-level prevalence of depression. A 1-standard deviation increase in state-level social capital predicted lower county-level suicide mortality rates almost 2 decades later (0.87 fewer suicides per 100 000 population; P = .04). This association was present among non-Hispanic Black people and among men but not among non-Hispanic White people and women. We also found evidence of partial mediation by prevalence of depression. Our findings suggest that elevating state- and county-level social capital, such as through policy and local initiatives, may help to reverse the trend of rising suicide rates in the United States.

scholarly journals Association between county-level social capital and the burden of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 21-23
Author(s):  
Mao Yanagisawa ◽  
Ichiro Kawachi ◽  
Christopher A. Scannell ◽  
Carlos Irwin A. Oronce ◽  
Yusuke Tsugawa
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Capital ◽  
The United States ◽  
County Level

The Recent Rise of Suicide Mortality in the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gonzalo Martínez-Alés ◽  
Tammy Jiang ◽  
Katherine M. Keyes ◽  
Jaimie L. Gradus
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Suicide Risk ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Suicide Mortality ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Suicide Rates ◽  
Subsequent Decrease

Suicide is a major public health concern in the United States. Between 2000 and 2018, US suicide rates increased by 35%, contributing to the stagnation and subsequent decrease in US life expectancy. During 2019, suicide declined modestly, mostly owing to slight reductions in suicides among Whites. Suicide rates, however, continued to increase or remained stable among all other racial/ethnic groups, and little is known about recent suicide trends among other vulnerable groups. This article ( a) summarizes US suicide mortality trends over the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, ( b) reviews potential group-level causes of increased suicide risk among subpopulations characterized by markers of vulnerability to suicide, and ( c) advocates for combining recent advances in population-based suicide prevention with a socially conscious perspective that captures the social, economic, and political contexts in which suicide risk unfolds over the life course of vulnerable individuals. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Public Health, Volume 43 is April 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

scholarly journals County-Level Social Capital and Bacterial Sexually Transmitted Infections in the United States

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 165-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kwame Owusu-Edusei ◽  
Bryttany McClendon-Weary ◽  
Lara Bull ◽  
Thomas L. Gift ◽  
Sevgi O. Aral
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Capital ◽  
Sexually Transmitted Infections ◽  
The United States ◽  
County Level ◽  
Sexually Transmitted

scholarly journals Absolutist Words From Search Volume Data Predict State-Level Suicide Rates in the United States

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 788-793
Author(s):  
Jais Adam-Troian ◽  
Thomas Arciszewski
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Suicidal Ideation ◽  
Mixed Model ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
Volume Data ◽  
Suicide Rates ◽  
Search Volume

Suicide continues to be a major public health issue, especially in the United States. It is a well-established fact that depression and suicidal ideation are risk factors for suicide. Drawing on recent research that shows that absolutist words (e.g., “completely,” “totally”) constitute linguistic markers of suicidal ideation, we created an online index of absolutist thinking (ATI) using search query data (i.e., Google Trends time series). Mixed-model analyses of age-adjusted suicide rates in the United States from 2004 to 2017 revealed that ATI is linked with suicides, β = 0.22, 95% CI = [0.12, 0.31], p < .001, and predicts suicides within 1 year, β = 0.16, 95% CI = [0.05, 0.28], p = .006, independently of state characteristics and historical trends. It is the first time that a collective measure of absolutist thinking is used to predict real-world suicide outcomes. Therefore, the present study paves the way for novel research avenues in clinical psychological research.

The Relationship between Prejudice and Wage Penalties for Gay Men in the United States

ILR Review ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 650-675 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Burn
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Gay Men ◽  
Empirical Relationship ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Standard Deviation Increase ◽  
Attitudes Toward Homosexuality ◽  
Prejudicial Attitudes

This article estimates the empirical relationship between prejudicial attitudes toward homosexuality and the wages of gay men in the United States. It combines data on prejudicial attitudes toward homosexuality from the General Social Survey with data on wages from the U.S. Decennial Censuses and American Community Surveys—both aggregated to the state level. The author finds that a one standard deviation increase in the share of individuals in a state who are prejudiced toward homosexuals is correlated with a decrease in the wages of gay men of between 2.7% and 4.0%. The results also suggest that the prejudice of managers is responsible for this correlation. The author finds that a one standard deviation increase in the share of the managers in a state who are prejudiced toward homosexuals is associated with a 1.9% decrease in the wages of gay men. The author finds no evidence that the wage penalty for gay men is correlated with the prejudice of customers or co-workers.

Big Five Personality Factors and Suicide Rates in the United States: A State-Level Analysis

2009 ◽  
Vol 109 (1) ◽  
pp. 208-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Voracek
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Big Five ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Personality Factors ◽  
Suicide Rates ◽  
Five Factors ◽  
Big Five Factors ◽  
Level Analysis ◽  
Cross National

Partly replicating findings from several cross-national studies (of Lester and of Voracek) on possible aggregate-level associations between personality and suicide prevalence, state-level analysis within the United States yielded significantly negative associations between the Big Five factor of Neuroticism and suicide rates. This effect was observed for historical as well as contemporary suicide rates of the total or the elderly population and was preserved with controls for the four other Big Five factors and measures of state wealth. Also conforming to cross-national findings, the Big Five factors of Agreeableness and Extraversion were negatively, albeit not reliably, associated with suicide rates.

scholarly journals The COVID-19 pandemic amplified long-standing racial disparities in the United States criminal justice system

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brennan Klein ◽  
C. Brandon Ogbunugafor ◽  
Benjamin J. Schafer ◽  
Zarana Bhadricha ◽  
Preeti Kori ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Black People ◽  
Prison Population ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
First Year ◽  
Latino People ◽  
Original Dataset ◽  
Penal Institutions ◽  
Police Interactions

During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of incarcerated people in the United States decreased by at least 16%---the largest, fastest reduction in prison population in American history. Using an original dataset curated from public sources on prison demographics across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, we show that incarcerated white people benefited disproportionately from this decrease in the U.S. prison population, and the fraction of incarcerated Black and Latino people sharply increased. This pattern deviates from a decade-long trend before 2020 and the onset of COVID-19, during which the proportion of incarcerated Black people was declining. Using case studies of select states, we explore and quantify mechanisms that could explain these disparities: temporary court closures that led to fewer prison admissions, changes in the frequency of police interactions, and state-level prison release policies that sought to de-densify congregate settings. These findings illuminate how systemic racism pervades juridical and penal institutions and is the engine of mass incarceration in America.

scholarly journals SUICIDE TRENDS AND DISPARITIES AMONG OLDER ADULTS IN THE UNITED STATES, 2008-2017

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S692-S692
Author(s):  
Sanae El Ibrahimi ◽  
Yunyu Xiao ◽  
Matthew L Smith
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Suicide Rate ◽  
Causes Of Death ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
The United States ◽  
Suicide Mortality ◽  
Suicide Rates ◽  
Life Issues ◽  
End Of Life Issues

Abstract Background: Suicide ranks within the top fifteen causes of death among adults 55 and older in the United States and is a growing concern in the face of social isolation and other end-of-life issues. This study examined differences and trends in suicide rates and methods among older adults in the U.S. Methods: Suicide mortality rates from 2008-2017 were derived from the Multiple Cause of Death files in the CDC’s WONDER database. Suicide deaths were identified from the underlying causes of death using ICD-10 codes. Age-adjusted death rates (per 100,000) were calculated. Older adults were grouped into four age categories: 55-64, 65-74, 75-84, and 85+ years. Percent change in suicide rates between 2008-2017 were examined, which were then stratified by gender and top suicide methods. Results: Suicide rates increased by 16% among adults 55 years of age and older from 2008 to 2017 (15.4 vs 17.8 per 100,000 respectively). In 2017, the suicide rate among older adults was 27% higher than the general population (14.0 per 100,000). Suicide rates were significantly higher among men relative to women for those ages 85+ (14:1 ratio of males-to-females). However, females in the 65-74 age group experienced the highest increase of suicide rate (41%) compared to other females or males across age groups. The most common method of suicide was firearms, followed by poisoning and suffocation. Suffocation had the highest increase over time (37%). Conclusion: Rising suicide rates among older adults suggest the need for tailored intervention strategies that address upstream suicide-related risk factors.

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