Citation

Barlett CP, DeWitt CC, Madison CS, Heath JB, Maronna B, Kirkpatrick SM. Psychol. Violence 2020; 10(1): 1-7.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/vio0000235

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The current article presents an analysis of the relationship between global ambient temperature and homicide rate mediated by the number of extreme weather events and resource scarcity (i.e., access to clean drinking water and food production). Recently, Miles-Novelo and Anderson (2019) proposed a model that links temperature to homicide rates through several mediating variables, and we chose to focus our analysis on how high temperatures predict extreme weather events to increase homicide rates due to the extreme weather events straining resources germane to human life (i.e., access to clean drinking water).

METHOD: Data from the World Bank were accumulated between 1961 and 2015 on the aforementioned variables. Ambient temperature (1961-1989), number of extreme weather events (1990-2009), access to clean drinking water (2010), food production (2010), and homicide rates (2011-2015) were analyzed.

RESULTS: Correlational analyses showed that ambient temperature across the world positively predicted the number of extreme weather events and homicide rates but negatively correlated with access to clean drinking water. Path modeling showed support for our primary thesis that ambient temperatures positively predicted extreme weather events, which, in turn, negatively predicted access to clean drinking water to positively predict homicide rates. Mediation tests confirmed these relationships.

CONCLUSION: As the world gets warmer, it is likely that more extreme weather events (e.g., tornadoes, hurricanes, etc.) will increase, which will likely put a strain on the resources humans need to survive (i.e., clean water access), and when such resources are strained, homicide rates are one possible negative societal consequence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)

Language: en