Citation

Maguire ER, Snipes JB. Soc. Forces 1994; 72(4): 1239-1243.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1994, Social Forces Journal, Publisher University of North Carolina Press)

DOI

10.1093/sf/72.4.1239

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In their article assessing the link between country music airtime and metropolitan suicide rates, Stack and Gundlach (1992) found that the greater the airtime devoted to country music, the greater the white suicide rate. Employing ordinary least squares regression, they controlled for the effects of divorce, southernness, poverty, and gun availability. Their model accounts for 51% of the variance in urban white suicide rates. The authors interpret their findings as evidence that country music may "nurture a suicidal mood" (215), though they acknowledge that their model does not explain black suicide rates. In an attempt to replicate their suicide model for whites, we used the same data and methods. Our results indicate that country music -- both bivariately and multivariately -- has a negative, though insignificant effect on white urban suicide rates. © 1994 The University of North Carolina Press.

Language: en