Cross-National Social Ecology of Intelligence and Suicide Prevalence: Integration, Refinement, and Update of Studies

Abstract

This study integrates, refines, and updates previous findings pertaining to positive ecologic (population-level) associations between intelligence and suicide prevalence across nations by using corrected and revised national IQ estimates and, further, a quality-of-human-conditions index, both recently published by Lynn and Vanhanen. Across a global 85-nation sample of sex-specific total suicide rates and a Eurasian 48-nation sample of sex-specific elderly suicide rates, these were positively associated with updated national IQ estimates. The associations were stronger for the general population than for elderly persons, independent of the quality of human conditions, and notedly stronger in exponential fitting of suicide rates with national IQ than in linear fitting, thereby indicating that shifts or differences in national IQ correspond to proportional, not absolute, changes in suicide rates. Implications of these findings and the question of generalizability of such associations to the individual level are discussed.

National Intelligence, Suicide Rate, and Subjective Well-Being

“…This hypothesis is consistent with various incidental evidence from suicidology (for reviews, see Voracek, 2004Voracek, , 2005Voracek, , 2006bVoracek, , 2007a. The central finding of these cross-national studies was preserved with various controls for salient ecologic indicators of suicide prevalence, such as per capita Gross Domestic Product and rates of the elderly, divorced, and unemployed (Voracek, 2004); rates of adult literacy, urbanization, and being Roman Catholic (Voracek, 2005); or an index of the quality of human living conditions (Voracek, 2008). On the individual level, subjective wellbeing is a powerful preventive factor for suicidal behavior (Joiner, 2005).…”

“…The same pattern is also evident from most, but not all, intranational studies so far conducted on this question (for a review, see Voracek, 2007c). It is less certain whether this pattern also generalizes to the individual level of analysis (for discussion, see Voracek, 2006bVoracek, , 2008, which therefore remains an important agenda for future researchers.…”

“…Positive ecologic (population-level) associations between national intelligence (IQ) estimates and suicide rates have consistently been observed in cross-national studies (Lester, 2003;Voracek, 2004Voracek, , 2005Voracek, , 2006aVoracek, , 2007bVoracek, , 2008Templer, Connelly, Lester, Arikawa, & Mancuso, 2007). Such aggregate-level associations are of potential interest, as they could have their origin in individual-level effects of general cognitive ability on suicidal behavior.…”

Economic and Cultural Correlates of Road-Traffic Accident Fatality Rates in OECD Countries

“…The extent to which members of a society attempt to cope with anxiety by minimizing uncertainty; preference of rules and structured circumstances traffic safety research, although it can be assumed that building a wellfunctioning and safe traffic system requires a certain level of planning and, thus, intelligence. Lynn and Vanhanen's IQ scores have been used in other studies related to mortality (e.g., suicides, see Voracek, 2008). In literature, there have been only a few studies about nation-level cultural factors, national personality characteristics, and road-traffic accident fatality rates.…”

National Intelligence Estimates and the Failed State Index

“…Up to now, across dozens of studies, theoretically expected and thus meaningful aggregate-level associations of national IQ with numerous other psychological, socioeconomic, and demographic indicators have been obtained. Variables investigated range from atheism ( Lynn, Harvey, & Nyborg, 2009 ), scholastic achievement ( Lynn, et al, 2007 ), fertility ( Shatz, 2008 ), inbreeding depression ( Woodley, 2009 ), health outcomes ( Reeve, 2009 ), and life history traits ( Rushton, 2004 ;Templer, 2008 ) to homicide ( Lester, 2003 ;Templer, Connelly, Lester, Arikawa, & Mancuso, 2007 ) and suicide rates ( Voracek, 2004( Voracek, , 2005( Voracek, , 2006( Voracek, , 2007a( Voracek, , 2008, to name just a few examples (for a comprehensive review, see Lynn & Vanhanen, 2012b ).…”