Magic Statistics

Despite a substantial increase in the prevalence and social acceptability of cohabitation, new research finds that suicide is still significantly less common among persons who are legally married.  Studies as far back as 1881 have observed a negative correlation between being married and likelihood of suicide.  Even though the marriage rate has declined in recent decades, that correlation continues to hold true.

From the news story in today’s Daily Mail:

Single and cohabiting women are increasingly much more likely to commit suicide than married women, a Whitehall report showed yesterday.

It found that those who do not marry were killing themselves at three times the rate of wives.

This is a much higher rate than 25 years ago, when single women were twice as likely to commit suicide as those who were married.

The findings, in a study by the Government's Office for National Statistics, suggest that cohabitation has made a high proportion of young women more vulnerable to depression.

They undermine Labour's dogma that all family relationships are equally good.

The Daily Mail report focuses on suicide among women, but the full study from the Office for National Statistics documents similar findings for men.

[A]s presented in earlier articles, suicide rates among married people are lower than for unmarried people for both sexes and in every age group. For single and divorced men aged 25 and over, suicide rates were around three times higher than for married men throughout 1983 to 2004. This was also the case for divorced women, but for single women aged 25 and over the differentials increased over time, to around three times by 2004.

It has been suggested that marriage offers protection against suicide because married persons are said to have access to greater social support than unmarried persons.  The new findings tend to controvert that hypothesis, however.  Cohabitation has tripled since 1979, and today about one-quarter of single Britons are cohabiting; yet, with only marginal exceptions, the divergence between suicide rates of married and unmarried has not narrowed.

Despite an overall reduction in suicide rates, there has been no narrowing of the gap in suicide rates between those who are married and those who are single or divorced. Rates for single and divorced men and divorced women were around three times higher than for married men and women throughout. For single women, the differential widened from just over two times to around three times between 1983 and 2004.

The full study, entitled “Trends in suicide by marital status in England and Wales, 1982-2005”, is found in the ONS publication, Health Statistics Quarterly, Spring 2008, pp. 8-14.

h/t: MarriageDebate.com

Previous related posts:

• Child abuse: Dark underbelly of cohabitation
• Marriage is good for you and your kids
• Married women far less likely to be victims of domestic violence
• Cohabitation is an inferior imitation of the real thing

Robert Gagnon, the man who wrote the definitive study of biblical teaching on homosexuality, will teach a two-week course at Regent College, Vancouver, this July.

The Bible, Homosexuality and Sexual Ethics

This course will examine the Bible’s views on homosexual practice in the context of a broader discussion of human sexuality. Particular attention will be given to the creation texts, the Sodom narrative and related stories, the Levitical prohibitions, the witness of Jesus on human sexuality, and several key texts in Paul (Rom 1:24-27; 1 Cor 6:9; 1 Tim 1:10) in the broader context of Pauline sexual ethics. The three main arguments for dismissing the biblical witness on homosexual practice will be assessed and critiqued (the exploitation, orientation and misogyny arguments). The course will also deal with philosophic nature arguments, current socio-scientific information and church and public policy issues. Students will be equipped to think through the issue of homosexual practice and to make a reasoned and compassionate case for the importance of a male-female prerequisite for valid sexual unions.

BIBL/THEO 589: July 14-25, 1:15-3:45 pm
2 or 3 graduate credit hours

Dr Gagnon’s The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics (Nashville: Abingdon, 2001) is essential reading for those who wish to investigate and ponder everything the Bible says about homosexual behaviour.  Many of his articles are posted at his website.

Dr Gagnon is Associate Professor of New Testament, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and an ordained elder in the Presbyterian Church USA.

Check out the rest of Regent’s summer schedule as well.

c/p: Anglican Essentials Canada Blog

Rick Mercer nails the Liberal Adaptable Party of Canada, with the help of a cast of dozens perfoming a dynamite song-and-dance routine.

Pass your budget.  Take all week.
No one can understand our leader speak.
. . .
We’ll pass your bills. Have no fear.
If anyone needs us we’re over here.

h/t: Bourque
 

Analysis released today from Statistics Canada’s 2004 General Social Survey (GSS) finds that only 1.5% of Canadians aged 18 and over identify themselves as homosexual or bisexual.  This would appear to corroborate an earlier Statistics Canada estimate, based on the 2003 Canadian Community Health Survey, that 1.7% of Canadians aged 18-59 are homosexual or bisexual.  When one takes into account sampling errors, the two estimates are insignificantly different.  (Note also that that today’s estimate covers a somewhat larger age group.)

According to today’s GSS analysis, Canadian homosexuals and bisexuals report higher levels of violent victimisation, yet are no more fearful of violence than are heterosexuals.  A summary appears in The Daily.

Gays, lesbians and bisexuals reported experiencing higher rates of victimization for violent crimes in 2004, including sexual assault, robbery and physical assault, than heterosexuals, according to a new study.
. . .
Despite experiencing higher rates of violence, gays, lesbians and bisexuals did not express higher levels of fear than their heterosexual counterparts.

Overall, more than 9 out of 10 gay, lesbian and bisexual Canadians indicated that they were "somewhat" or "very" satisfied with their personal safety, a proportion which was similar to heterosexuals.

The Daily summary, unfortunately, does not convey the many caveats and cautions outlined in the full report (pdf).  Some 24,000 Canadians responded to the GSS, so the number of actual respondents who identified as homosexual or bisexual was very small—only a few hundred, I would think.  The small sample size resulted in relatively large margins of error, and this is reflected in the report.  Consider the numbers footnoted in this excerpt.

Gays, lesbians and bisexuals reported experiencing higher rates of violent victimization . . . including sexual assault, robbery and physical assault, than did their heterosexual counterparts.  
 
The rate for gays and lesbians was almost 2.5 times higher than the rate for heterosexuals (242⁵ violent incidents per 1,000 population) while the rate for bisexuals was 4 times higher than the rate for heterosexuals (415⁵ versus 99 violent incidents per 1,000 population).

Footnote 5’s caution concerning sampling errors recurs frequently in the pages of the report.

5. Use with caution, coefficient of variation is high (16.6% to 33.3%).

Large sampling errors associated with small sample size are, I assume, the reason why separate estimates for male and female homosexuals or bisexuals are nowhere to be found, despite the fact that disaggregation by sex is routinely reported in analyses of general population surveys.

Statistics Canada refers throughout its report to “gays and lesbians” (never to “homosexuals”), but never shows separate estimates for gays and lesbians—only for both groups combined.  The GSS was unable to find enough gays and lesbians, and bisexuals, to permit gender breakdowns.

The next two paragraphs contain a slightly technical discussion of statistical arcana.

Statistics Canada reports sampling error using a statistic called the “coefficient of variation” (CV), which is equal to the sampling error of the estimate divided by the estimate.  Thus, to say that homosexuals reported 242 violent incidents per 1000 homosexuals with a CV of between 16.6% and 33.3% is to say that the sampling error of the estimate is between 1/6 and 1/3 of the estimate of 242.  Put that together with the rule of thumb that the 95% confidence interval is equal to the estimate plus and minus twice the sampling error and you can see for yourself how imprecise many of the today’s estimates really are.

I must point out that the confidence intervals thus estimated will not be precisely correct because sample observations are individually weighted in accordance with their demographic characteristics.  But the exercise will still generate instructive approximations.

Finally, I note that a published article by Paul Cameron is referenced in the report and included in the bibliography.  Pro-homosexual activists have vilified Dr Cameron as a junk scientist (see, e.g., this comment), so it is very interesting to see that Statistics Canada considers at least some of his research credible.

More information on the General Social Survey, including a link to the complete questionnaire, is posted here.

Sources:

Statistics Canada, 2008. "Study: Sexual orientation and victimization". The Daily, 28 February.  Statistics Canada catalogue no. 11-001-XIE. http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/080228/d080228c.htm (accessed 28 February 2008).

Statistics Canada, 2008.  “Sexual orientation and victimization, 2004”.  Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics Profile Series.  Statistics Canada catalogue no. 85F0033M, no. 16. http://www.statcan.ca/english/research/85F0033MIE/85F0033MIE2008016.pdf (accessed 28 February 2008).

Previous related posts:

• Homosexuals and bisexuals drink more, do more drugs
• Statistics Canada estimates 1.4% of adults homosexual or bisexual

Is this what we have to look forward to if Mohamed Elmasry and the Sock Puppet Four Minus One have their way?

The American Islamic Congress, a civil rights organization, has held a forum in Washington, D.C. on limited media freedom in the Muslim world. Experts who spoke there Tuesday say government control and ownership of the media is widespread in the Middle East and in some other predominately Muslim countries, and called on the United States to support free and independent journalism everywhere. VOA Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from Washington.

Richard Eisendorf is a Progam Manager for Freedom House, a non-governmental organization based in the United States that conducts research and advocates for political freedoms. He said his group's report shows that in 2007, the Middle East and North Africa had the lowest level of press freedom in the world. "Journalists in the region face surveillance, intimidation, sexual assaults, torture, imprisonment and sometimes worse," he said.

Maneeza Hossain, a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, pointed out that Muslim governments “instigated, manipulated and exaggerated” the uproar over the Danish Mohammed cartoons, resulting in widespread violence and destruction.

Previous related posts:

• Canadian Islamic Congress: The feds are ignoring us
• “Islam forbids images of Jesus”

Statistics Canada today released a study of Canada’s telephone call centre industry, which prompted CBC to post these dueling headlines:

• Canadian call centres report steady growth
• Halifax call centre will likely close in April, 485 jobs lost

Listen up!

Doctor thrown off Ryanair flight 'for talking'

A doctor is threatening to take Ryanair to court after he claims he was thrown off a flight for chatting during the pre-flight safety briefing.

Ryanair was recently ordered to pay compensation to five passengers thrown off on suspicion of being terrorists.

Edward Michael George, the eloquent blogger with the endearing slogan (“Semper Poo Poo”), has tagged me for the meme to list six unimportant facts/quirks/habits about myself.  This is similar to a meme I participated in last July but, since EMG gave me a compliment along with the tag, here goes—with an extra quirk besides.

1. My nickname around the office is "Crash".
2. Perhaps my greatest disappointment about Whitehorse is that it does not have a really good Mexican restaurant.  (There is one Mexican restaurant that is highly regarded by many locals, but to me it’s just OK.)
3. Every winter, my legs itch for no apparent reason.  Sometimes I awake in the middle of the night scratching my legs.  I think it's an allergy to something in home heating oil.
4. This will probably shock some conservative bloggers: I am addicted to Law and Order and Law and Order: Criminal Intent.  SVU, however, sucks, IMHO.
5. Twice in the early 1970s, I was searched at the US-Canada border: once entering Canada at Cloverdale, BC; the other entering the US at International Falls, MN.  No major contraband was discovered on either occasion.
6. Every Saturday morning at 8 am, I set off on the weekly grocery shopping expedition.
7. Left sock, right sock, right slipper, left slipper.

Now I’m supposed to tag six more unsuspecting bloggers.  Make that seven—the final one is a bonus.

1. Rebecca Stark
2. Binks
3. Peter at The Age To Come
4. Michael Daley (aka Binks II) at The Lambeth Conference
5. Kate (aka Mrs Falstaff) at The Hairy Eyeball
6. The Sheepcat
7. Joe Walker at felix hominum, the blog where memes go to die

Previous related post: Just what you always wanted to know

As an aside, I wonder about a pet owner who would name a dog “Sweety” and then dress the animal in this get-up.

Be that as it may, click here to have your computer screen cleaned by a cute little dog.

The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Matthias, Apostle, from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer:

O almighty God, who into the place of the traitor Judas didst choose thy faithful servant Matthias to be of the number of the twelve Apostles; Grant that thy Church, being alway preserved from false Apostles, may be ordered and guided by faithful and true pastors; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For The Epistle: Acts 1:15-26
The Gospel: St Matthew 11:25-30

More on St Matthias here.

Woodcut: Unknown master of Protestant Reformation Era, after Lucas Cranach the Elder, c 1550.

The collect for today, the Third Sunday in Lent, from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer:

We beseech thee, Almighty God, look upon the hearty desires of thy humble servants; and stretch forth the right hand of thy Majesty, to be our defence against all our enemies; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: Ephesians 5:1-14
The Gospel: St Luke 11:14-28

Yvonne Sullivan, 28, of Weston-super-Mare, England, suffered severe blood poisoning when her baby died shortly after childbirth.  She was in a coma for two weeks, and doctors told her husband, Dom, who kept watch at her bedside, that they were thinking about turning off her life-support machine.

Dom then gave her a stern talking-to, and she began to recover.

A mum who fell into a coma came back from the brink of death after her husband gave her "a bloody good rollicking" when he heard doctors wanted to turn off her life-support machine.
. . .
[W]hen doctors told him they may have to switch off her life-support machine, distraught Dom took drastic action – by giving his wife a firm telling-off.

Dom's stern words managed to penetrate through the near-fatal coma and Yvonne even remembers him making the impassioned speech, admitting that she "never liked getting told off".

Dom held Yvonne's hand and demanded: "You start fighting, don't you dare give up on me now. I've had enough, stop mucking around and start breathing. Come back to me."

Incredibly, just two hours later, she steadily began to start breathing again.

Her ventilator was shut off five days later and she regained consciousness.  A week later, she went home.  She says her husband’s desperate fighting words saved her life.

Previous related post: Doctors ordered to keep Sam Golubchuk on life support