Major
Economics
Anticipated Graduation Year
2022
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
This study aims to understand whether access to green spaces, such as forests, or affiliation to religious groups had an impact on American suicide rates in the years 2000 and 2010, times of economic expansion and recession, respectively. Multivariate regressions are estimated using a variety of county-level data, and the results will be compared for changes between 2000 and 2010. The results and analyses illustrate that urban spaces (rather than forested areas) have relatively lower rates of suicide. Counties with higher rates of adherents to the Catholic religion also had relatively lower rates of suicide when controlling for other economic and demographic characteristics. Further research in this area will be needed to validate the findings of this study and to aid government funding decisions to reduce rates of suicides.
Faculty Mentors & Instructors
Professor Timothy Classen, Associate Professor, Associate Dean for Teaching and Learning, Department of Economics; Ashley Williams, Associate Director of New Student Programs-Special Populations, Department of Academic Enrichment and Retention, Cura Scholars Program; Besti Burns, Director of Learning and Student Success, Academic Advising Services, Cura Scholars Program
Supported By
The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Impact of Religion and Green Space on Local Suicide Rates in the United States
This study aims to understand whether access to green spaces, such as forests, or affiliation to religious groups had an impact on American suicide rates in the years 2000 and 2010, times of economic expansion and recession, respectively. Multivariate regressions are estimated using a variety of county-level data, and the results will be compared for changes between 2000 and 2010. The results and analyses illustrate that urban spaces (rather than forested areas) have relatively lower rates of suicide. Counties with higher rates of adherents to the Catholic religion also had relatively lower rates of suicide when controlling for other economic and demographic characteristics. Further research in this area will be needed to validate the findings of this study and to aid government funding decisions to reduce rates of suicides.
Comments
This research was conducted under the Cura Scholars Program.