Citation

Voracek M. Soc. Behav. Pers. 2007; 35(8): 1027-1030.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, New Zealand, Society for Personality Research)

DOI

10.2224/sbp.2007.35.8.1027

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Consistent with a number of facts from suicide research and an evolutionary view of suicidal behavior, positive ecological (group-level) correlations between contemporary suicide rates and intelligence level have been observed in several geographical (cross-national and within-nation) studies (e.g., Lester, 1993, 1995, 2003; Voracek, 2004, 2005a, 2005b, 2006a-h, 2007). The present research extended these accounts cross-temporally to a test of the social ecology of U.S. state IQ and suicide rates during the early 20th century. Analysis of historical state suicide rates (1913-24), along with validated state IQ figures derived from the Army Alpha and Beta Intelligence Test data of Yerkes (1921), showed a clear positive correlation of state IQ with suicide rates (independent of state wealth) across the USA, thus suggesting temporal stability of the effect. © Society for Personality Research (Inc.).

Language: en

Keywords

Suicide; IQ; Intelligence; Social ecology; Temporal stability; U.S. states; Yerkes