Increases in Local Violence Tied to Higher Subsequent Suicide Rates

FRIDAY, Aug. 1, 2025 (HealthDay News) — At the county level, increases in homicide rates are linked to higher suicide rates the following year, according to a study published online July 29 in Social Science & Medicine.

Noting that suicide remains a leading cause of death in the United States, with rates increasing during the past twenty years, Daniel C. Semenza, Ph.D., from Rutgers University in Camden, New Jersey, and colleagues analyzed the longitudinal relationship between homicide and suicide rates across U.S. counties from 1968 to 2019. The authors focused on variations by race, firearm involvement, and urbanicity. The analysis included 162,472 county-year observations from the CDC WONDER database and the National Historical Geographic Information System.

The researchers found that higher homicide rates predicted subsequent increases in suicide rates one year later, particularly for firearm-related fatalities. For each one-unit increase in the total homicide rate, there was an associated 0.493-unit increase in total suicide rates. Among White populations and in rural areas, the homicide-suicide relationship was stronger.

“Interpersonal and self-directed violence are interconnected and should be treated as such,” Semenza said in a statement. “Local violence doesn”t only harm the victims — it destabilizes entire communities in ways that increase the risk of suicide. Violence prevention is suicide prevention.”

Abstract/Full Text