Geographical Disparity of Suicide

Suicide has been one of the leading causes of death in the United States for several years (Census, 2017). Multiple studies have looked at the disparity of suicide rates across geographical locations (Wilkinson, 1984; Saunderson,1998; Morrell, 1999). These studies have shown a correlation between rural areas and higher rates of suicide. For this study, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was taken and linked with population data acquired through the Census. This was done for the year 2017 to see any correlation between location and suicide rate could be observed. States were split into six categories to be able to make three comparisons. States were separated into, Eastern State, Western State, Southern State, Northern State, Coastal State, and Interior State. States were placed into more than one category because they were tested for difference in three tests, Eastern versus Western (P-value = Works Cited Calgary O. NCHS - Leading Causes of Death: United States | Data | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. DataCDC.gov. https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/NCHS-Leading-Causes-of-Death-United-States/bi63-dtpu/data. Morrell S, Taylor R, Slaytor E, Ford P. 1999. Urban and rural suicide differentials in migrants and the Australian-born, New South Wales, Australia 1985–1994. Social Science & Medicine. 49(1):81–91. Saunderson T, Haynes R, Langford IH. 1998. Urban-rural variations in suicides and undetermined deaths in England and Wales. Journal of Public Health. 20(3):261–267. Wilkinson KP, Israel GD. 1984. Suicide and Rurality in Urban Society. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior