Effects of societal intergration, period, region, and culture of suicide on male age-specific suicide rates: 20 developed countries, 1955-1989

Multiple indicators of societal integration and proxies for the culture of suicide form the model used to explain variation in male age-specific suicide rates from 1955 to 1989 in 20 developed countries. The hypothesis that certain determinants of suicide rates have changed over the period between 1955 and 1989 was rejected, as was the hypothesis that there are effects of period, net of measured predictors. The determinants of suicide rates do vary by age, with the culture of suicide playing an especially important role in the 35-64 age group.     

Three explanations of marital status differences in suicide rates: social integration, marital status integration, and the culture of suicide

Our first goal is to link empirical measures of three theoretical explanations of marital status differences to the variation in male and female standardized suicide difference coefficients SSDCs in 12 developed countries, circa 1960. We include predictors of Durkheim's social integration hypothesis, Gibbs and Martin's concept of marital status integration, and norms on suicide acceptability. All three are significantly related to variation in male and female SSDCs. The second goal is to examine how our empirical indicators impact age-specific differences in the male minus female SSDC--differences that vary by age in all 12 of our study populations. The strongest predictor of these differences is the male minus female difference in the percent married.     

Exchange rate regimes and the cross-country distribution of the 1997 financial crisis

We study variations in the severity of the 1997 financial crisis in a sample of 25 developing countries. We use both currency depreciation and stock market returns as crisis measures. Our key findings are that countries that started 1997 with an exchange rate peg experienced significantly greater currency depreciation and significantly lower stock returns than would be predicted from the levels of various macroeconomic indicators.     

Predictors of per capita alcohol consumption and gender-specific liver cirrhosis mortality rates: thirteen European countries, circa 1970-1984 and 1995-2007

Regression models of cross-national differences in social and economic predictors of per capita alcohol consumption and gender-specific cirrhosis mortality rates are developed for 13 European countries, first using 1970-1984 (period 1) data and then replicating with 1995-2007 (period 2) data. Regression analysis finds that stronger alcohol control policy laws and income inequality are highly significant predictors of consumption in both periods. Further, results show that alcohol consumption is a significant predictor of male mortality rates in both periods, while it is significant only in the second period for female cirrhosis mortality rates. Psychological well-being is a significant predictor for male and female cirrhosis mortality rates in both periods.     

The Age Structure of Male Suicide Rates: Measurement and Analysis of 20 Developed Countries, 1955–1994

Publication of 19th-century age- and gender-specific suicide rates (Morselli, 1882, Table XXIX) and similar 20th-century suicide rates (World Health Organization 1956, Table 4) invited comparative study of the age structures of suicide, but Girard's 1993 article was the first detailed effort to construct a measure of age structure that would allow systematic comparative analysis of cross-national data. We replaced Girard's qualitative typology with a quantitative measure of age structures. We then tested the theory that economic development is a key to understanding the age structure of suicide. We found no difference between these structures around 1850 and those in industrialized countries more than a century later. Differences between the male age structure of suicide in the United States and the other 19 developed countries in the 1955–1994 period were measured. We also found that change in the age structure in each country between 1955–1964 and 1985–1994 was statistically significant in 19 of the 20 countries. Over this period the share of total suicides to men ages 15–44 increased in nearly all countries, while the share to men 45–74 declined. Regression analysis using measures of societal integration, the culture of suicide, and the 1955–1964 suicide rate successfully predicted the 1985–1994 age structure in 18 of 20 countries.     

Cross-National Differences in Academic Achievement: Why the United States Lags behind Other Rich Nations

This article tests the hypothesis that national differences in academic achievement scores of 15-year-olds in 25 developed nations in 2003, 2006, and 2009 can be explained by national differences in national health and family economic security programs, levels of parental education, and national differences in motivation to strive for high levels of academic achievement. We also test for the additional impact, if any, of national differences in educational system characteristics. We then ask what variables account for the low scores of American students on math, science, and reading achievement tests. More highly developed national family health and economic security programs and higher student levels of motivation for academic achievement in other rich countries help explain why scores in the United States are relatively low. Low academic qualifications and prestige for teachers and a lack of national educational goals also differentiate the United States from nations with higher achievement scores.     

Societal integration and age-standardized suicide rates in 21 developed countries, 1955-1989

Gender-specific age-standardized suicide rates for 21 developed countries over seven 5-year periods (1955-59...1985-89) form the two dependent variables. Durkheim's theory of societal integration is the framework used to generate the independent variables, although several recent theories are also examined. The results from a MGLS multiple regression analysis of both male and female rates provide overwhelming support for a multidimensional theory of societal integration and suicide, as first suggested by Durkheim.