Suicide and Homicide in Rural Areas: A Study of Arkansas

Abstract

Although older studies (e.g., Dublin & Bunzel, 1933) showed higher suicide rates in urban areas, more recent studies do not always yield such differences. For example, Schroeder and Beegle (1953) reported a higher suicide rate in rural Michigan. The present study compares the suicide and homicide rates in Arkansas counties which were classified by Bricton, et al. (1987) as farming-dependent (n = 29) , urban ( n = 8 ) and ( n = 38) using deaths in 1980 from personal violence reported by the National Center for Health Statistics (1985). The suicide rate in farming-dependent counties (M = 7.9 , SD = 5.6) did not differ significantly from the suicide rate in urban counties (M = 11.7, SD = 5.7) or counties (M = 9.1, SD = 6.2; F,,,, = 1.37). Similarly, the homicide rate in farming-dependent counties (M = 8.5, SD = 7.2) did not differ significantly from the homicide rate in the urban counties (M = 13.8, SD = 8.2) or in other counties (M = 8.5, SD = 7.2 , F,,,, = 1.84). This analysis does not show there were significantly different suicide and homicide rates in farming-dependent counties in Arkansas in 1980, and so no urban versus rural differences in rates of personal violence were noted.