Vodka and Violence: Alcohol Consumption and Homicide Rates in Russia
William Alex Pridemore, PhD
The author is with the Department of Sociology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla.
Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to William Alex Pridemore, Department of Sociology, 329 Kaufman Hall, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019 (e-mail: pridemore{at}ou.edu).
In Russia, rates of alcohol consumption and homicide are amongthe highest in the world, and already-high levels increaseddramatically after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Rates ofboth, however, vary greatly among Russias 89 regions.
We took advantage of newly available vital statistics and socioeconomicdata to examine the regional covariation of drinking and lethalviolence. Log-log models were employed to estimate the impactof alcohol consumption on regional homicide rates, controllingfor structural factors thought to influence the spatial distributionof homicide rates. Results revealed a positive and significantrelationship between alcohol consumption and homicide, witha 1% increase in regional consumption of alcohol associatedwith an approximately 0.25% increase in homicide rates.
In Russia, higher regional rates of alcohol consumption areassociated with higher rates of homicide.
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