Question

For their 1992 study “The Effect of Country Music on Suicide” (published in Social Forces, vol. 71, p. 211), researchers Stack and Gundlach investigated various American communities, recording the number of minutes of daily radio airtime devoted to country songs and the suicide rate. They found a moderately strong positive correlation. In their paper, the researchers explain the results by saying that “…the themes found in country music foster a suicidal mood ...” (emphasis added). A news headline (The Independent [London], October 1, 2004, p. 15) about the research echoed these sentiments when it said, “Strange But True: Country Music Saps Will to Live.” The research is even cited on various suicide-prevention websites, some with headings such as “Country Music Increases Suicide Risk.” Based on this study, can we have confidence in causality between country music and suicide?

Answer 1

The correct answer is: No, because the lack of assignment of communities to different levels of country music listening means there is a possibility of lurking variables.

Causation can only be determined in this case if the researchers randomly assigned different amounts of country music to different communities. They did not do this, so the study design doesn’t rule out lurking variables.