Category: Series: Social Indicators 2007
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Substance Abuse
SOCIAL INDICATORS 2007 Until recently, in American history, drug abuse was primarily confined to the poor and certain subcultures. Drug abuse escalated and entered mainstream culture during the 1960s and 1970s. Few reliable time-series statistics exist that measure levels of drug abuse over an extended period. The most widely used statistics come from the National…
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Crime (Part 2)
SOCIAL INDICATORS 2007 Crime (Part 2) The Columbine High School tragedy in Littleton, Colorado, in 1999, has come to symbolize a culture of pervasive youth violence. There is no question that the Columbine episode was well beyond the ordinary expression of youth violence, but was it truly symbolic of trends in youth culture? Historical statistics…
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Crime (Part 1)
SOCIAL INDICATORS 2007 A fundamental indicator of a deteriorating society is increased criminal behavior. Crime analysis in the United States has focused on two primary measures over the last few decades. One measure is based on crimes reported to law enforcement officers. These are compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and presented in the…
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Suicide
SOCIAL INDICATORS 2007 The ultimate pathology is suicide. Suicide should be on the increase in a society that is in decline. People whose mental health is at risk should increasingly be pushed over the edge due to the stresses and strains of decaying society. What is happening with suicide in the United States? The basic…
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Infant Mortality and Life Expectancy
SOCIAL INDICATORS 2007 (USA) Infant Mortality and Life Expectancy Several factors contribute to having a high quality of life. These include safe environments, adequate diet, adequate health care, sufficient education, adequate financial resources, and nurturing families and communities, to name just a few. There are measures that tell us about each of these variables, but…
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American Social Indicators, 2007
Is American society coming apart? This is a question I have heard asked over and over again in recent years. On more than one occasion, I've heard comparisons made to the moral decay and fall of the Roman Empire. Frankly, I think most of us suffer from a parochialism of the present (Phrase stolen from…