Skip Navigation



IJE Advance Access published online on April 25, 2005
International Journal of Epidemiology, doi:10.1093/ije/dyi079
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
34/4/837    most recent
dyi079v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Bills, C. B.
Right arrow Articles by Li, G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Bills, C. B.
Right arrow Articles by Li, G.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association © The Author 2005; all rights reserved.
Accepted March 11, 2005

Original paper

Correlating homicide and suicide

Corey B. Bills 1 and Guohua Li 2*

1 Department of Emergency Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
2 Department of Emergency Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; Center for Injury Research and Policy, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Guohua Li, E-mail: ghli{at}jhmi.edu


  Abstract

Background The relationship between homicide and suicide has been studied extensively, but with conflicting results. The primary objective of this study was to examine the correlation between homicide and suicide rates in a large cross-sectional sample of UN member states.

Methods The study used age-standardized data on homicide and suicide for 65 international locales compiled by the World Health Organization. Weighted correlation coefficients between homicide and suicide rates were computed by sex, income level, and geographic region.

Results The overall correlation between homicide and suicide rates was weak and statistically insignificant ({rho} = -0.08, P = 0.5178). However, when analysed by geographic region the data revealed two distinct patterns: homicide and suicide rates were positively correlated in European countries ({rho} = 0.89, P < 0.0001), but negatively correlated in the Asia Pacific Region ({rho} = -0.97, P < 0.0001), and the Americas ({rho} = -0.62, P < 0.005).

Conclusions The strength and direction of the relationship between homicide and suicide vary significantly with geographic region. The divergent geographic patterns in the relationship between homicide and suicide might be due to regional differences in social and cultural variables.

Keywords: Violence; homicide; suicide; sociology; criminology; social theory.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Epidemiol. Community HealthHome page
M Huisman and A J Oldehinkel
Income inequality, social capital and self-inflicted injury and violence-related mortality
J Epidemiol Community Health, January 1, 2009; 63(1): 31 - 37.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.