Skip to main content
Log in

The effects of marital status and social isolation on adult male homicides in the United States: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Mortality Study

  • Published:
Journal of Quantitative Criminology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

With data from the 1979–1985 Longitudinal Mortality Study, we examine the effects of marital status and social isolation on adult male homicide (ICD-9 Codes E960-E978). Cox proportional hazards models were fitted to a 1979–1981 population cohort of approximately 200,000 adult men and their mortality experiences were followed until 1984–1985. Multivariate hazards regression analysis showed that marital status and social isolation are associated with significantly higher risks of homicide victimization. Controlling for age and other socioeconomic covariates, single persons were 1.9 times, and divorced, separated or widowed persons were 1.7 times, more likely to die from homicide than married persons. Socially isolated persons were 1.6 times more likely to become homicide victims. Other adult males with increased risk of homicide victimization were African Americans and those who lived in the inner city.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Blau, J. R., and Blau, P. M. (1982). The cost of inequality: Metropolitan structure and violent crime.Am. Sociol. Rev. 47: 114–129.

    Google Scholar 

  • Centers for Disease Control (1992). Homicide surveillance—United States, 1979–1988.Morbid. Mortal. Week. Rep. 41: 1–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cox, D. R. (1972). Regression models and life-tables (with discussion).J. Roy. Stat. Soc. 34: 187–220.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crutchfield, R. D., Geerken, M. R. and Gove, W. R. (1982). Crime rates and social integration: The impact of metropolitan population mobility.Criminology 20: 467–478.

    Google Scholar 

  • Daly, M., and Wilson, M. (1988). Evolutionary social psychology and family homicide.Science 242: 519–524.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gartner, R. (1990). The victims of homicide: A temporal and cross-national comparison.Am. Sociol. Rev. 55: 92–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gill, R. D. (1992). Multistate life-tables and regression models.Math. Popul. Stud. 3: 259–276.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Holinger, P. C., Offer, D., and Ostrov, E. (1987). Suicide and homicide in the United States: An epidemiologic study of violent death, population changes, and the potential for prediction.Am. J. Psychiat. 144: 215–219.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kposowa, A. J., and Breault, K. D. (1993). Reassessing the structural covariates of U.S. homicide rates: A county level study.Sociol. Focus 26: 27–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kposowa, A. J., Breault, K. D., and Harrison, B. M. (1994). Reassessing the structural covariates of violent and property crime in the U.S.: A county level analysis.Br. J. Social. (in press).

  • Land, K. C., McCall, P. L., and Cohen, L. E. (1990). Structural covariates of homicide rates: Are there invariances across time and social space?Am. J. Sociol. 95: 922–963.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Messner, S. F. (1989). Economic discrimination and societal homicide rates: Further evidence on the cost of inequality.Am. Sociol. Rev. 54: 587–611.

    Google Scholar 

  • Namboodiri, K., and Suchindran, C. M. (1987).Life-table Techniques and Their Applications, Academic Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (1992).National Longitudinal Mortality Study, Publication Use File Documentation, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palmer, S., and Humphrey, J. A. (1980). The offender-victim relationships in criminal homicide followed by offender's suicide, North Carolina, 1972–1977.Suicide Life Threat. Behav. 10: 106–118.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rogot, E., Sorlie, P. D., Johnson, N. J., Glover, C. S., and Treasure D. W. (1988).A Mortality Study of One Million Persons, by Demographic, Social, and Economic Factors 1979–1981 Follow-up. Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogot, E., Sorlie, P. D., Johnson, N. J., and Schmitt, C. (1992).A. Mortality Study of 1.3 Million Persons by Demographic, Social, and Economic Factors: 1979–1985 Follow-up, National Institutes of Health, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saltzman, L. E., Mercy, J. A., Rosenberg, M. L., Elsea, W. R., Napper, G., Sikes, R. K., and Waxweiller, R. J. (1990). Magnitude and patterns of family and intimate assault in Atlanta, Georgia, 1984.Violence Victims 5: 3–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sampson, R. J. (1986). Crime in cities: The effects of formal and informal social control. In Reiss, A. J., and Tonry, M. (eds.),Communities and Crime, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 271–234.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sampson, R. J. (1987). Urban black violence: The effect of male joblessness and family disruption.Am. J. Sociol. 93: 348–382.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • SAS (1991).SAS/Stat Software: The PHREG Procedure, SAS Institute, Cary, NC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stark, R., Doyle, D. P., and Kent, L. (1980). Rediscovering moral communities: Church membership and crime. In Hirschi, T., and Gottfredson, M. (eds.),Understanding Crime: Current Theory and Research, Sage, Beverly Hills, CA, pp. 43–51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Straus, M., Gelles, R., and Steinmentz, S. (1980).Behind Closed Doors: Violence in the American Family, Anchor Books, Garden City, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, K. R. (1984). Economic sources of homicide: Re-estimating the effects of poverty and inequality.Am. Sociol. Rev. 49: 283–289.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, K. R., and Flewelling, R. L. (1988). The social production of criminal homicide: A comparative study of disaggregated rates in American cities.Am. Sociol. Rev. 53: 421–431.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, W. J. (1987).The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kposowa, A.J., Singh, G.K. & Breault, K.D. The effects of marital status and social isolation on adult male homicides in the United States: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Mortality Study. J Quant Criminol 10, 277–289 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02221213

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02221213

Key words

Navigation