In 2005, Abel and Kruger reported that, compared to the other 10 months of the year, Major League Baseball players are much less likely to commit suicide if they are born in July and much more likely to commit suicide if they are born in August. The data and statistical tests used to support this claim are both incorrect. A correct test applied to the complete, accurate data shows that there is no relationship between birth month and suicide for Major League Baseball players.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AbelE. L.KrugerM. L. (2005a) Birth month and suicide among major league baseball players. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 101, 21–24.
2.
AbelE. L.KrugerM. L. (2005b) Seasonality of birth in the majors, 1880–1999. Social Biology, 52, 47–55.
3.
AsbergM. (1997) Neurotransmitters and suicidal behaviour: The evidence from cerebrospinal fluid studies. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 836, 158–181.
4.
BeckA. T.LesterD. (1973) Attempted suicide and month of birth. Psychological Reports, 33, 506.
5.
ChotaiJ.AsbergM. (1999) Variations in CSF monoamine metabolites according to the season of birth. Neuropsychobiology, 39, 57–62.
6.
ChotaiJ.RenbergE. S.JacobssonL. (1999) Season of birth associated with the age and method of suicide. Archives of Suicide Research, 5, 245–254.
7.
KettlP. A.CollinsT.SredyM.BixlerE. O. (1999) Seasonal differences in suicide birth rate in Alaska natives compared to other populations. Alaska Native Mental Health Research, 8, 1–10.
8.
LesterD. (1987) Month of birth of suicides, homicides, and natural deaths. Psychological Reports, 60, 1310.
9.
LesterD. (1995) The concentration of neurotransmitter metabolites in the cerebrospinal fluid of suicidal individuals: A meta analysis. Pharmacopsychiatry, 28, 45–50.
10.
LesterD.ReeveC. L.PriebeK. (1970) Completed suicide and month of birth. Psychological Reports, 27, 210.
11.
PokornyA. D. (1960) Characteristics of 44 patients who subsequently committed suicide. Archives of General Psychiatry, 2, 314–323.
12.
ReichlerJ. L. (1996) The baseball encyclopedia: The complete and official record of Major League Baseball. (10th ed.) New York: Macmillan.
13.
SalibE.Cortina-BorjaM. (2006) Effect of month of birth on risk of suicide. British Journal of Psychiatry, 188, 416–422.
14.
SanbornD. E.SanbornC. J. (1974) Suicide and months of birth. Psychological Reports, 34, 950.
15.
SmithG. (1998) Introduction to statistical reasoning. New York: McGraw-Hill.