Suicide in the Ukraine

The suicide rates of the 24 provinces (oblasts) of the Ukraine were found to be strongly associated with indices of social disintegration (such as divorce and illegitimacy rates), with the Western provinces incorporated in the USSR later than other Ukrainian territories having lower suicide rates and lower levels of social disintegration.     

Suicide on death row

The suicide rate on death row for the period 1976 through 1999 was found to be high (113 per 100,000 per year), some five times higher than the suicide rate for the male population of the United States. The death row suicide rate was predicted by features of the death row population (negatively with the population on death row) and by social indicators of the society as a whole (negatively with birth and divorce rates and positively with marriage rates).     

Comparison of the elemental composition of office document paper: evidence in a homicide case

Fraudulent substitution of a page within a multiple page document such as a will or business contract, the counterfeit manufacture of paper banknotes, and linking ransom or extortion notes have all been the focus of criminal investigations at one time or another. In a recent homicide investigation, document examiners were requested to compare a threatening letter received by a business partner of the deceased with paper samples seized under warrant from a suspect's house. Through a quantitative elemental analysis of the concentrations of nine elements (Na, Mg, Al, Mn, Sr, Y, Ba, La, and Ce) within the questioned and specimen documents, determined by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), it was concluded that (i) the paper of the threatening letter originated from a different source to that of the paper seized from the suspect's house and (ii) all six pages of paper seized from the suspect's house originated from the same source. This discrimination of paper is presented as both a statistical t-test analysis (99.9% confidence limit) as well as construction of an elemental fingerprint for individual replicates within the questioned and specimen sample populations. This is the first reported use of the comparison of the elemental composition of document paper, determined by ICP-MS, to assist in a criminal investigation.     

The Same Old Song?—Stability and Change in Relationship Schemas from Adolescence to Young Adulthood

Relationship schemas are core elements of personality that guide interpersonal functioning. The aim of this study is to examine stability and change in relationship schemas across two developmental epochs—adolescence and young adulthood—in the stories that people tell about their interactions with others. Using the Core Conflictual Relationship Theme Method, relationship themes were coded from semistructured interviews conducted in adolescence and again at age 25. The sample consisted of 40 participants in a longitudinal study of adolescent and young adult psychological development. There was considerable stability in the frequency with which particular themes were expressed in the narratives of adolescents and young adults. Significant changes from adolescence to young adulthood included a decrease in the perception of others as rejecting and of the self as opposing others. Young adults saw themselves and others more positively, and used a broader repertoire of themes in their relationship narratives than they had as adolescents. The basic continuity and particular changes in relationship schemas found in this study are consistent with knowledge about the adolescent-to-young-adult transition derived from other empirical and clinical findings. Relationship schemas may be rich units of study for learning about the development of interpersonal functioning.     

Sex differences in suicidal ideation in a community sample from China

In a large sample of over 4,000 Chinese residents in the Wuling and Sino-Vietnamese border regions of China, females had a higher incidence of ever wishing that they were dead. This sex difference was found regardless of marital status, age, and occupation.