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Journal of Happiness Studies
Published in: Journal of Happiness Studies 1/2019

18-11-2017 | Research Paper

Suicide in Happy Places: Is There Really a Paradox?

Authors: Philip M. Pendergast, Tim Wadsworth, Charis E. Kubrin

Published in: Journal of Happiness Studies | Issue 1/2019

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Abstract

In 2011 researchers published a paper that exposed a puzzling paradox: the happiest states in the U.S. also tend to have the highest suicide rates. In the current study, we re-examine this relationship by combining data from the Multiple Mortality Cause-of-Death Records, the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, and the American Communities Survey to determine how subjective well-being and suicide are related across 1563 U.S. counties. We extend the original study in important ways: by incorporating both absolute and relative measures of subjective well-being; by examining the happiness-suicide association at a more suitable level of analysis; and by including a more robust set of control variables in the model. Contrary to the previous study, we do not observe any significant relationship, negative or positive, between the absolute and relative well-being of places and suicide rates at the county-level. Implications for the study of suicide rates and relative deprivation are discussed.
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Metadata
Title
Suicide in Happy Places: Is There Really a Paradox?
Authors
Philip M. Pendergast
Tim Wadsworth
Charis E. Kubrin
Publication date
18-11-2017
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Published in
Journal of Happiness Studies / Issue 1/2019
Print ISSN: 1389-4978
Electronic ISSN: 1573-7780
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-017-9938-y

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