Evidence for a Positive Ecological Correlation of Regional Intelligence and Suicide Mortality in the United States during the Early 20th Century

2007 ◽  
Vol 105 (2) ◽  
pp. 391-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Voracek
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ethnic Composition ◽  
Suicide Mortality ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Ecological Group ◽  
Suicide Rates ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Ecological Correlation

Several contemporary cross-national and intranational geographic studies have reported positive ecological (group-level) associations of intelligence and suicide mortality. These findings are consistent with facts from suicide research and with an evolutionary view of suicidal behavior. The present research extended these accounts cross-temporally. Analysis of E. L. Thorndike's state-level personal quality scores and standardized birth rates of eminent persons, taken as proxy variables for regional intelligence, along with historical state suicide rates (1913–1924 and 1928–1932) showed that intelligence and suicide mortality across the USA were already clearly positively related during the early 20th century, suggesting time stability of the effect. Within the USA, the effect is possibly due to state differences in the ethnic composition, which correspond to both suicide rates and intelligence proxies. It is argued that the most parsimonious interpretation of these ecological findings remains that they indeed reflect individual-level effects, that a positive link between intelligence and suicide is entirely compatible with positive overall links between intelligence and health and longevity, and that the ultimate explanative background for the positive link between intelligence and suicide may be provided through the framework of Rushton's differential K theory.

EARLY 20TH CENTURY SOCIAL ECOLOGY OF U.S. STATE IQ AND SUICIDE RATES: EVIDENCE FROM THE ARMY ALPHA AND BETA INTELLIGENCE TEST DATA OF YERKES (1921)

2007 ◽  
Vol 35 (8) ◽  
pp. 1027-1030 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Voracek
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Test Data ◽  
Social Ecology ◽  
Temporal Stability ◽  
Intelligence Test ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Ecological Group ◽  
Suicide Rates ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Evolutionary View

Consistent with a number of facts from suicide research and an evolutionary view of suicidal behavior, positive ecological (group-level) correlations between contemporary suicide rates and intelligence level have been observed in several geographical (cross-national and within-nation) studies (e.g., Lester, 1993, 1995, 2003; Voracek, 2004, 2005a, 2005b, 2006a-h, 2007). The present research extended these accounts cross-temporally to a test of the social ecology of U.S. state IQ and suicide rates during the early 20th century. Analysis of historical state suicide rates (1913–24), along with validated state IQ figures derived from the Army Alpha and Beta Intelligence Test data of Yerkes (1921), showed a clear positive correlation of state IQ with suicide rates (independent of state wealth) across the USA, thus suggesting temporal stability of the effect.

State IQ and Suicide Rates in the United States

2007 ◽  
Vol 105 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Voracek
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
American College Test ◽  
The United States ◽  
Suicide Mortality ◽  
National Assessment ◽  
Suicide Rates ◽  
Scholastic Assessment Test ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Methodological Problems ◽  
Ecological Correlation

Previous findings pertaining to the direction (positive or negative) of the ecological correlation between intelligence and suicide rates in the USA have been conflicting. Using novel state IQ estimates, derived from the Scholastic Assessment Test, the American College Test, these tests combined, or the National Assessment of Educational Progress state scores, these estimates were not consistently associated to state suicide rates. Whereas ACT-derived state IQ was significantly positively correlated with suicide rates, the correlation with composite ACT-SAT-derived state IQ was significantly negative and with both SAT-derived and NAEP-derived state IQ also negative but not significant. Validity checks pointed to possible methodological problems with the state IQ estimates. Currently available estimates of state IQ, therefore, seem not appropriate to resolve the question of the direction of the ecological correlation of intelligence and suicide mortality across the USA.

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.

One Hundred Years of Empirical Aesthetics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcos Nadal ◽  
Esther Ureña
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Golden Age ◽  
The United States ◽  
Gestalt Psychology ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Motivational Theory ◽  
Reward Value ◽  
History Of ◽  
Functional Psychology

This article reviews the history of empirical aesthetics since its foundation by Fechner in 1876 to Berlyne’s new empirical aesthetics in the 1970s. The authors explain why and how Fechner founded the field, and how Wundt and Müller’s students continued his work in the early 20th century. In the United States, empirical aesthetics flourished as part of American functional psychology at first, and later as part of behaviorists’ interest in reward value. The heyday of behaviorism was also a golden age for the development of all sorts of tests for artistic and aesthetic aptitudes. The authors end the article by covering the contributions of Gestalt psychology and Berlyne’s motivational theory to empirical aesthetics.

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.

State IQ and Elderly Suicide Rates in the United States

2008 ◽  
Vol 102 (2) ◽  
pp. 601-602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Voracek
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Total Population ◽  
The United States ◽  
Elderly Persons ◽  
Suicide Rates ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Elderly Suicide

Paralleling previous findings with state suicide rates of the total population, the associations of state suicide rates of elderly persons with regional IQ estimates across the USA were inconsistent (positive, negative, or nil), depending on the source of available state IQ estimates used in the analysis. The implications of these findings and directions for further inquiry are discussed.

scholarly journals Other People’s Cabins: German Inversions of Onkel Tom’s Hutte

Lateral ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin Moriah
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
The United States ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Housing Projects ◽  
Uncle Tom's Cabin ◽  
The Us ◽  
Archival Work

Kristin Moriah’s essay is rooted in extensive archival work in the US and Germany, examining the transatlantic circulation of Uncle Tom’s Cabin through markets of performance and literature in and between Germany and the United States. The essay follows the performative tropes of Uncle Tom’s Cabin from its originary political resonances to the present-day restaurants, train-stops, and housing projects named for the novel. Moriah reveals how the figurations of blackness arising from these texts are foundational to the construction of Germanness and American-German relations in the early 20th century and beyond.

scholarly journals European Direct Investment in Brazil, 1860 to the Present

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sérgio de Oliveira Birchal ◽  
Âmara Fuccio de Fraga e Silva
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
World Economy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Geographical Proximity ◽  
Japanese Firms ◽  
The World ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Western European

European direct investment in Brazil dates back to the discovery of the country and has been since then either hegemonic or more important than a superficial observation can grasp, as this work aims at showing. During the 20th century, the United States has replaced Britain as the worlds economic superpower and the largest direct investor. US dominance in the world economy and geographical proximity to Brazil would suggest that US investments were by far the largest in the country during that century. Furthermore, as Japan had become the second largest economy in the world in the 1980s, we would expect that this would be reflected in the data of the largest multinationals in Brazil. However, as our investigation suggests, Western European direct investment has been as large (and in many occasions even larger) as that of the USA and Japanese firms have never had a prominent presence among the largest firms in Brazil, at least until the late 1990s.

A Review of Chinese Eastern Railway Study in China

2021 ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Weiyun Mа
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Far East ◽  
The United States ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Qing Empire ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Republic

The article reviews research on Chinese Eastern Railway in China. The research on Chinese Eastern Railway in China began in the early 20th century, has a history of more than 100 years. The existing research results mainly focus on the construction of Chinese Eastern Railway and Tsarist Russia's expansion policy, negotiation between China and Russia (Soviet Union) on the railway issue, the contradictions and struggles of Japan and the United States around the railway problem and so on. These documents cover a wide range of issues which almost involve the political, diplomacy, economy and trade, culture and other fields of international relations in the Far East from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of 20th century, provide a broad vision for the study of Chinese Eastern Railway. But there are problems in the research. Although there are many works on Chinese Eastern Railway, but most discussions are limited to a certain stage, there are few works on the whole history of Chinese Eastern Railway. Not only should we pay attention to the study of the early 20th century in other words the period of the Qing Empire, moreover, we should strengthen the research in the period of the Republic of China and the new China period, this is of great significance to the study of the whole history of Sino — Soviet relations. In addition due to specific historical conditions, part of the Russian data of Chinese Eastern Railway in China was lost, in addition, there is no detailed and authoritative reference book for Russian archives of Chinese Eastern Railway, this situation makes the cited materials in Chinese works appear too old the materials cited in the book seem too old. The authors thank for proofreading and examining the translation A.I. Kobzev, Ph.D. (Philosophy), professor, director of China Department, Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, director of TSC of Humanities and Social Sciences and director of Philosophy Department of MIPT (SRI), director of TSC «Oriental Philosophy» of RSUH, Chief researcher of Russian language, literature and culture research center of Heilongjiang University.

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