Joblessness, Family Disruption, and Violent Death in Chicago, 1970-90

Abstract

Violent deaths, defined as homicides, suicides, and accidents, are leading causes of death among working-age populations. While large-scale population studies and community case studies have established common linkages between race, sex, age, joblessness, and all three forms of violent death, they have tended to be cross-sectional and to be focused on one cause of violent death to the exclusion of others. Utilizing 1970 and 1990 census data and vital records for 75 Chicago community areas, this article examines the relationships between joblessness, family disruption, and all three forms of violent death across the black and nonblack community-area populations of Chicago at two distinct time points corresponding to William Julius Wilson's theory of the evolution of urban underclass communities. The findings suggest that both homicide rates and accidental death rates are similarly predicted by high rates of joblessness and family disruption, and that these relationships have strengthened in both black and nonblack communities over time. Variations in racial segregation among black community-area populations appeared to have no consistent direct effects on black rates of violent death. We also found that, contrary to historical patterns, suicide rates for young adult black males and young adult nonblack males appear similarly responsive to a secular decline in the economic opportunity structure. Finally, through the use of multiple-decrement life-table analysis techniques across racial communities, we observed a growth trend in the racial disparities between life expectancies of black and nonblack populations that is linked to relative levels of joblessness.