Full Citation

Title: Suicide in the City: A New Approach to Assessing the Role of Context

Citation Type: Working Paper

Publication Year: 2012

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Abstract: Sociologists have long argued that suicide is an act heavily influenced by social context. Yet empirical investigations into the importance of context on suicide assume that aggregate conditions reflect something more than individual relationships when the possibility exists that these effects are simply the sum of individual characteristics associated with suicide. Using nationally representative survey data (1986-2006) linked to prospective mortality and contextual information, this study produces the first systematic evaluation of the role of context on an individuals odds of suicide. We find that social and economic disadvantages in the cities in which individuals live increase their odds of suicidal death even after accounting for individual-level traits, supporting classic sociological arguments that the risk of suicide is indeed influenced by the social milieu.

Url: http://www.colorado.edu/IBS/pubs/pop/pop2012-0003.pdf

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Authors: Wadsworth, Tim; Pampel, Fred C.; Rogers, Richard G.; Denney, Justin T.

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Publication Number: POP2012-03

Institution: University of Colorado Boulder

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Publisher Location: Boulder, CO

Data Collections: IPUMS NHGIS

Topics: Aging and Retirement, Health, Housing and Segregation, Other

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