| Abstract: | Within each of seven age groups of black females, black males, white females, and white males, the correlations among marital statuses between 1990 integration measures and 1989 to 1991 suicide rates are predominantly negative and substantial. That finding is consistent with previous reports, but those reports did not examine deviant cases, meaning populations that appear to be extreme exceptions to the status integration theory. Such populations—particular age groups or particular marital statuses—are identified here, and they are especially likely when a marital status has few occupants. The interpretation: a small population size tends to result in unstable suicide rates, and that instability tends to reduce the correlation of the rates with status integration. There is no conventional methodology for analyzing deviant cases, and this paper does not offer one. Nonetheless, the findings are relevant for any theory pertaining to variation in rates. |
