Poverty, Inequality, and Suicide Rates: A Cross-National Assessment of the Durkheim Theory and the Stream Analogy of Lethal Violence

This study draws on the theories of Emile Durkheim and the Stream Analogy of Lethal Violence to examine the effect of poverty on suicide rates across 15 Western European nations and the United States between 1993 and 2000. To achieve our goal, we take advantage of absolute and relative poverty measu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sociological quarterly 2020-10, Vol.61 (4), p.787-812
Main Author: Piatkowska, Sylwia J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analogies
Crime
deviance
inequality
poverty
Durkheim
the Stream Analogy of Lethal Violence
Durkheim, Emile (1858-1917)
Economic development
Homicide
Inequality
Infant mortality
Infants
Mortality rates
Murders & murder attempts
Poverty
Suicide
Suicides & suicide attempts
Violence
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Summary:This study draws on the theories of Emile Durkheim and the Stream Analogy of Lethal Violence to examine the effect of poverty on suicide rates across 15 Western European nations and the United States between 1993 and 2000. To achieve our goal, we take advantage of absolute and relative poverty measures, along with infant mortality rates, utilized in recent cross-national research on homicide rates. The results from fixed-effects regression models reveal that relative poverty rather than absolute poverty and infant mortality rates are positively related to suicide rates, net of economic development. In addition, we find relative poverty and infant mortality rates to yield significant effects on the suicide-homicide ratio and total violence rates. This study concludes with a discussion of the role of relative poverty in predicting different manifestations of lethal violence.
ISSN:0038-0253
1533-8525
DOI:10.1080/00380253.2020.1715308