Significant positive correlations have been found between the proportion of the US population constituted by 15- to 24-yr.-olds and incidence of homicide and suicide deaths in this age group. Holinger, Offer, and Ostrov recently proposed explanations of these findings at three conventional conceptual levels: (a) the epidemiological-sociologic, (b) the psychodynamic-clinical, and (c) the nosological. Based on recent exploratory data, a fourth, distinctively unconventional, alternative is suggested here for consideration in multivariate, epidemiological studies of violent death, namely, the possible effects due to early-developmental exposure to toxic radiation.
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