乐播传媒

A closer look at geographic data finds no correlation between generally happy locales and rates of suicide, according to new research by CU Boulder and U of California Irvine

Several years ago, a research paper听听by finding that the happiest states in the United States also had the highest suicide rates.

This seemingly paradoxical conclusion caught the attention of a trio of researchers from the 乐播传媒 Boulder and University of California Irvine for a different reason: could there be more to the story than the eye-catching findings suggested?

By looking at counties instead of states and making a few other experimental tweaks, researchers put the newsy findings to the test. The results of their study,听听in the Journal of Happiness Studies, contradict the earlier study, adding another layer to a growing body of research about how our geographic location affects our happiness and well-being.

鈥淥ur basic finding was that we don鈥檛 see any relationship between the general level of happiness in a place and people鈥檚 likelihood of committing suicide,鈥� said听Tim Wadsworth, an associate sociology professor at CU Boulder and one of the study鈥檚 co-authors.

Designing the experiment

罢丑别听, conducted by a team of economists and published in 2011, concluded that the happiest U.S. states also had the highest suicide rates. The economists鈥� explanation for this paradox was that people tended to compare themselves to those around them鈥攊f you鈥檙e an unhappy person in a happy place, your negative feelings might be exacerbated by your positive surroundings, which could lead to suicide.

Wadsworth, along with then-CU Boulder graduate student听Philip Pendergast听and UC Irvine criminology professor听, were skeptical of the study鈥檚 focus on people living in the same state.听

Since states can span hundreds of thousands of square miles, there are major regional differences to consider鈥擝oulder, for example, is very different from Colorado Springs. Positing that people were more likely to compare themselves to others in their immediate vicinity, the researchers narrowed in on data at the county level instead.

鈥淲e found it to be problematic, unless you鈥檙e going to make the argument that people in one part of California are comparing themselves to people in other parts of California,鈥� Wadsworth said. 鈥淏ut I will buy the idea that I鈥檓 influenced by what I see living in Boulder among other Boulderites.鈥�

They deviated from the initial study in other ways, too, such as by controlling for regional variations in suicide rates and well-being. The researchers also accounted for the availability of firearms and included a measure of overall health in their analysis, since those two factors are also correlated with suicide. In essence, they created a more rigorous experiment to see if they could reproduce the initial findings.

In the end, their study failed to find evidence of a relationship, either negative or positive, between suicide rates and the average subjective well-being, or happiness, of U.S. counties. Instead, the findings reinforced the traditional predictors of suicide, such as the accessibility of firearms and health and regional variations.听

Noting the limitations of their work and the low number of studies on this topic, the researchers also pointed out the need for future research.

鈥淭he question is then, 鈥榃ell, who鈥檚 right?鈥欌�� Kubrin said. 鈥淣o study is ever the full explanation of anything. What awaits is additional studies to weigh in on this鈥攖hat鈥檚 the way science works. More than anything, our paper raises questions about those initial findings.鈥�

Understanding the findings

Practically speaking, the study鈥檚 findings suggest that you shouldn鈥檛 necessarily be concerned about living in a happy place if you鈥檙e unhappy, nor that you should rush out and move to a happy place in an attempt to become happier.

鈥淭he idea that anybody could move to a place to change their level of happiness, there鈥檚 no evidence that that鈥檚 actually happening,鈥� Wadsworth said. 鈥淟et鈥檚 not all of a sudden jump on the bandwagon and say we need to be extra concerned about unhappy people in happy places, not to say that it鈥檚 impossible, but (this study was) really just sort of holding up our hands and saying, 鈥榃hoa.鈥欌��

Another analysis made headlines recently, too, this one from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In May, the federal agency reported that suicide rates across the country increased 25 percent between 1999 and 2016.

While that statistic alone is alarming, sociologists like Wadsworth and Kubrin say it鈥檚 important for public health officials and policymakers to drill down into the data to look at state, regional and local trends, as well as other factors such as race, age, education level, marital status and the availability of firearms.

鈥淥ne of the things we know about suicide, as well as homicide, is that it鈥檚 not equally distributed,鈥� Kubrin said. 鈥淥ne of the things you have to do is disaggregate the suicide rate. The overall suicide rate is helpful, but not nearly as helpful as looking at different groups of people and the areas where the increase has occurred in particular.鈥�

On the other side of the spectrum, when our friends, family members and even celebrities such as Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain die by suicide, we tend to focus on their individual circumstances, such as their mental health. But if we really want to prevent more suicides across the country, it鈥檚 equally as important to look at widescale trends that go beyond individual factors such as depression, Kubrin said.

鈥淚ndividual-level explanations are 100 percent absolutely important,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut if we just stay at the individual level, we might be missing bigger, broader factors that impact suicide above and beyond any one individual鈥檚 characteristics. There are other questions about suicide that need answering. Why do suicide rates cluster in certain regions of the U.S.? It鈥檚 not just a function of people with depression moving to certain areas. There鈥檚 something beyond the individual that plays into this distribution.鈥�

Suicide research continues

Overall, the researchers say that further study on suicide is needed. Though suicide is much more common than homicide or violent crime, it receives a fraction of the attention.

鈥淲e鈥檙e obsessed with crime and crime trends and crime data,鈥� Kubrin said. 鈥淭he reality is that suicide, especially for certain groups, is much more likely to occur than homicide.鈥�

For his part, Pendergast said he hopes to continue his contributions to suicide research in his new role as administrator of the U.S. Census Bureau鈥檚 Rocky Mountain Federal Statistical Research Data Center, which is housed on campus.

After completing his doctorate at CU in May, Pendergast now reviews proposals from people who want to use the center鈥檚 restricted population data in their research. With such a rich dataset, Pendergast said he hopes researchers will explore topics such as why the American West has a higher suicide rate than other parts of the country. More broadly, Pendergast said he hopes this and other studies help spark much-needed conversations about suicide.

鈥淚 hope that any papers about suicide would have the implication of causing people to engage in more of a cultural dialogue about suicide and making it less stigmatized by simply talking about it,鈥� Pendergast said.