Might Suicide Underreporting Affect Hypothesis Test? The Case of Suicide and Divorce (Research Discussion Paper No. 60)

To see if underreporting in the suicide rate might lead to erroneous conclusions, 2 upwardly-adjusted suicide rates were computed using Canadian provincial data from 1971 & 1978; one contained all identified suicides & all deaths of undetermined origin; the other contained these plus accidental poisonings & selected motor vehicle fatalities. No findings are substantively altered when these adjusted rates are regressed in separate analyses on divorce rates & several control variables.