title: The protective effects of civic communities against all-cause mortality.
abstract: This study integrates the civic community framework from sociology into ecological research on mortality rates. The main hypothesis is that communities with high levels of civic engagement, a strong institutional infrastructure for civic participation, and a vibrant entrepreneurial economic climate should have lower rates of all-cause mortality. The analysis drew on data from the CDC WONDER system database for all counties in the US. The results from weighted least squares analysis of county level all-cause mortality rates age-adjusted to the 2000 population provide substantial support for the civic community perspective. Net of a range of important control variables, civically strong communities exhibit significantly lower rates of all-cause mortality.
authors.affiliation: Louisiana State University, Department of Sociology, 126 Stubbs Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, United States. mlee@lsu.edu
authors.forename: Matthew R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D003256:Community Participation; D006801:Humans; D016018:Least-Squares Analysis; D009026:Mortality; D012944:Social Support; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology