Geographic Spatial Autocorrelation and United States Suicide Patterns

Odland’s test for spatial autocorrelation was used to determine whether this error is present in geographic suicide studies. 2 typical studies that employ state & county data are examined to decide whether spatial autocorrelation limits the findings. Using a conservative randomization test with Moran’s I, it is concluded that for these studies spatial autocorrelation is not a serious problem. However, other weight matrices & less conservative tests are needed to further test the present results.