@article{ref1,
title="Social distancing and influenza mortality in 1918 did not increase suicide rates in the United States",
journal="SSM - Population Health",
year="2021",
author="Gaddy, Hampton Gray",
volume="16",
number="",
pages="e100944-e100944",
abstract="Recent research has suggested that the social distancing mandates introduced in the United States during the main waves of the 1918-20 influenza pandemic caused an increase in suicide rates. However, that finding relies on poor-quality, temporally mismatched data and has signs of omitted variable bias. Similarly, a long-standing finding that American suicide rates in 1918-20 were also boosted by the influenza mortality of the time has gone unquestioned in the literature, despite the original research admitting its risk of ecological fallacy. Using higher-powered mortality data, I cast doubt on both findings by analyzing the experiences of the pandemic in 43 of the largest American cities of the time. In line with some populations' experiences of COVID-19, I report tentative evidence that social distancing mandates during the 1918-20 pandemic may have been associated with decreased suicide rates. Larger, cross-national investigations of the effects of historical pandemics and social distancing mandates on mental health and suicide are needed.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2352-8273",
doi="10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100944",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100944"
}