| There exists a rich empirical literature on the social-structural predictors of suicide rates. Many examine the effects of religious, marital, and communal ties, but virtually no study has examined these variables in a formal spatial analysis. To fill this void in the empirical literature, this project pursued exploratory spatial data analysis and a more confirmatory multivariate spatial analysis of county-level suicide rates for 1960, 1970, 1980, and 1990. The primary goal of the project was to assess the effects of various social integration measures on suicide rates while controlling for the effects of spatial autocorrelation. A secondary goal was to conduct a suggestive test of the role of imitation in the spatial patterning of suicide rates. This test informs one of the most controversial debates in sociology. Emile Durkheim and Gabriel Tarde had opposing views on the importance of imitative suicide.; The following results were obtained: (1) of the social integration variables examined here, marital stability has the strongest deterrent effects on the suicide rate over the study period; (2) many of the social integration effects are nonlinear, such that deterrent effects are only produced beyond some tipping points; (3) the effects of social integration appear to be very different for men and women in the American West; (4) the effects of social status on suicide rates depend on the measurement of social status; and (5) the spatial patterning of suicide rates in contemporary America largely supports the Durkheimian view of the role played by imitation in suicide causation. Ways in which the classic theories of suicide can be extended are presented. |
