MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alvin Thomas, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Associate Director Center For Excellence in Diversity Palo Alto University Palo Alto, CA 94304 Walking Away Hurt, Walking...
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
April M. Zeoli, PhD, MPH
Associate Professor
School of Criminal Justice
Michigan State University
Lansing, MI 48824
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Zeoli: My team and I are interested in whether an infectious disease model can be applied to homicide. In other words, can homicide be described as being “contagious” and does it spread through a city in a systematic pattern? In our previous research, we showed that homicide did spread through Newark, New Jersey, in a manner similar to an infectious disease (http://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2012/homicide-spreads-like-infectious-disease/). However, not all types of homicide may be “contagious.” In this research, we looked at seven motive types of homicide to determine which, if any, of them clustered and spread from one place to another over time.
Of the seven types of homicide we examined, only gang-motivated homicides displayed a pattern of clustering and spreading through Newark, NJ. However, while drug-motivated and revenge homicides did not spread, they did cluster in the same general geographic areas during much of the same time that gang-motivated homicides clustered together.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Christopher J. Ferguson PhD.
Associate Professor and Chair of Psychology
Department of Psychology
Stetson University DeLand, FL
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Ferguson: People have debated whether media violence contributes to societal violence for centuries. A lot of individual laboratory experiments have tried to answer this question, but results have always tended to be inconsistent. Not too much data had yet looked at concordance between media violence and societal violence. In the current study I examined levels of movie violence across the 20th century, and video game violence in the latter part of the 20th, into the 21st century. Results generally indicted that it was not possible to demonstrate that media violence consumption correlated with increased crime in society.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Tamara Haegerich, PhD
Deputy Associate Director for Science
Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention
CDC - National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Haegerich: In the first three decades of life, more people in the US die from injuries and violence than from any other cause. Approximately 60% of fatal injuries are unintentional (for example, from motor vehicle crashes, drug overdose, and falls), 20% are due to suicide, and 20% are due to homicide. Injuries and violence have been linked to a wide range of physical, mental health, and reproductive health problems, and chronic diseases. They take an enormous economic toll, including the cost of medical care and lost productivity. Importantly, injuries and violence are preventable through education, behavior change, policy, engineering, and environmental supports. For example, laws that promote the use of seat belts and child safety seats, and prevent drunk driving, can reduce motor-vehicle-related injuries. Early childhood home visitation, school-based programs, and therapeutic foster care are examples of evidence-based approaches to preventing violence. Improving proper prescribing of painkillers and access to treatment for substance misuse could prevent prescription drug overdoses. Improvements are possible by framing injuries and violence as preventable, identifying interventions that are cost-effective and based on research, providing information to decision makers, and strengthening the capacity of the health care system.
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