The Effects of War and Alcohol Consumption Patterns on Suicide
United States, 1910-1933
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2556050 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ira Wasserman (0000-0001-6618-6096, Eastern Michigan University, corresponding author), Ira M Wasserman |
| Year | 1989 |
| Volume | 68 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 513 |
| Publication date | 1989-12-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Forces (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0037-7732 • E-ISSN: 1534-7605 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/2579258 |
| OpenAlex | W4248782839 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
The study examines longitudinal suicide data for the United States between 1910 and 1933. Marshall found that national wars decrease suicide not because they produce greater political integration in society, but because they decrease the national unemployment rate, thereby producing greater economic integration. This work argues that national wars also decrease suicide because they diminish alcohol availability in society, which reduces suicide triggered by alcohol consumption. In order to test the hypothesis the paper examines aggregate data for the United States in the World War I and prohibition era. Since the death registration area is incomplete in the previous time period, a control variable is introduced into the model to minimize measurement error. A pooled cross-sectional analysis of the data for 20 individual states indicates no lag effect for the alcohol consumption variable. A longitudinal analysis of the total national data between 1910 and 1933 shows that the levels of alcohol consumption and changes in the national business cycle are significantly related to suicide, while participation in World War I did not significantly influence national suicide
Aggregate data · Alcohol · Alcohol consumption · Consumption (sociology) · Demographic economics · Economic growth · Economics · Environmental health · Poison control · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Statistics · Suicide prevention · Survey data collection · Unemployment · World War II · Demography · Employment and Welfare Studies · Law · Medicine
How exactly do politics play a part in determining health? New perspectives on an age old issue
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Factors Associated With Temporal and Spatial Patterns in Suicide Rates Across U.S. States, 1976–2000
| Citations per year | 0.23 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2000 - 2022 (23) |
| Highly cited | No |