----- Original Message ----- From: "Alberto Monteiro" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, May 24, 2002 10:08 AM Subject: Re: Increase risk to kids
> Dan Minette wrote: > > > > I got local news that I can never remember hearing > > growing up. I should start by saying that my > > daughter, Beth, has gone to more funeral > > parlors/funerals than her mother and I have. > > I think that she's gone to funerals for seven > > schoolmates over the last four years. > > > It surprises me that a statistics freak like > you should fall for this trap :-) > > I imagine the _sample_ of your daughter's aknowlegments > is much bigger than the one you had when you were > your daughter's age Actually, no. While my class was smaller, I was also aware of the number of deaths in the town of 100k. Futher, my wife went to a high school that was at least half the size of my daughter's, and remembered no deaths. I think that it may be that I'm focusing on suicides and homocides in middle class neighborhoods. The quickest numbers I could get indicated that suicides have tripled from 52 to 92. Its considered an epidemic here. In this community, the suicide rate at the high school is 37+/- 15 per 100,000. I'll agree that death from auto accidents have probably gone down. But, suicides and homicides have gone up. The other question I would like to see adressed is the seperation of the 15-19 death rate and the 20-24. So, other posters are right, the overall risk of death has gone down nationwide. Its just that the risk of homicide/suicide has gone up, while death due to natural causes and auto accidents have decreased. Its also probable that upper middle class Texas has more risk factors than Minnesota and Wisconson. Dan M. Dan M.
