One stream, two channels? A parallel-process latent class growth model of homicide rates and suicide rates in 183 countries, between 2000 and 2019.

Background: Suicide and homicide have long been viewed in Western culture as moral, ethical and legal equivalents. This view has underpinned many theoretical and empirical explorations into their relationship over the centuries. However, there has been little evaluation of longitudinal heterogeneity. Methods: Suicide and homicide rates in 183 countries between 2000 and 2019 were collected from the World Health Organization Global Health Observatory Repository. Corresponding structural variables (i.e., GDP per capita, unemployment rate, percentage of urban population, percentage of elderly population, and Gini index) were acquired from The World Bank and Standardized World Income Inequality Database. Parallel-process latent class growth modelling was applied to identify different classes within the joint suicide and homicide rate trajectories. Multinomial logistic regression examined relationships between the structural covariates and trajectory classes. Results: Four trajectory classes were identified, two with inverse relationships between suicide and homicide, and two with parallel relationships: 1) countries with increasing suicide rates and decreasing homicide rates ("suicide up, homicide down": UD, Conclusion: The over-time relationship between suicide and homicide is heterogenous and complex. It is influenced differently by GDP per capita, urbanization and unemployment in different countries, and it is not well described by a single theory.