Short note on economic connectedness, social connection and fatal injury

To offer a brief assessment of the association between economic connectedness and violence.

Using data from Facebook's Social Connectedness Index (SCI), I assess the relationship between social connectivity and homicide and suicide rates, relative to other traditional structural estimates of violence. I further assess whether social connectivity mediates the relationship between economic disadvantages and violence.

Economic connectedness is associated with county-level homicide and suicide rates and has the strongest connection with violence of any of the social connection measures examined. Traditional measures of economic disadvantage explained 57% of the county-level variation in economic connectedness. Economic connectedness in turn mediated a significant proportion of the association between economic disadvantages and both homicide and suicide. Including other control variables, higher economic connectedness was consistently associated with lower rates of violence, irrespective of county rurality, economic disadvantage or firearm availability.

Violence researchers can incorporate a much-needed focus on social capital and cohesiveness into large-scale national studies using SCI data. Economic connectedness specifically may be a significant protective factor for violence, thus incorporating economic connectedness and social connection into violence research may provide support for new violence prevention efforts.