For their 1992 study “the effect of country music on suicide” (published in social forces, vol. 71, p. 211), researchers stack and gundlach investigated various american communities, recording the number of minutes of daily radio airtime devoted to country songs and the suicide rate. they found a moderately strong positive correlation. in their paper, the researchers explain the results by saying that “…the themes found in country music foster a suicidal mood ” (emphasis added). a news headline (the independent [london], october 1, 2004, p. 15) about the research echoed these sentiments when it said, “strange but true: country music saps will to live.” the research is even cited on various suicide-prevention websites, some with headings such as “country music increases suicide risk.” based on this study, can we have confidence in causality between country music and suicide?

The correct answer is: No, because the lack of assignment of communities to different levels of country music listening means there is a possibility of lurking variables.

Causation can only be determined in this case if the researchers randomly assigned different amounts of country music to different communities. They did not do this, so the study design doesn’t rule out lurking variables.

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freeborn women in ancient rome were citizens (cives), but could not vote or hold political office. because of their limited public role, women are named less frequently than men by roman historians. but while roman women held no direct political power, those from wealthy or powerful families could and did exert influence through private negotiations. exceptional women who left an undeniable mark on history range from lucretia and claudia quinta, whose stories took on mythic significance; fierce republican-era women such as cornelia, mother of the gracchi, and fulvia, who commanded an army and issued coins bearing her image; women of the julio-claudian dynasty, most prominently livia (58 bc-ad 29), who contributed to the formation of imperial mores; and the empress helena (c.250–330 ad), a driving force in promoting christianity.

women in the ancient greek world had few rights in comparison to male citizens. unable to vote, own land, or inherit, a woman’s place was in the home and her purpose in life was the rearing of children. this, though, is a general description, and when considering the role of women in ancient greece one should remember that information regarding specific city-states is often lacking, is almost always from male authors, and only in athens can their status and role be described in any great detail. neither are we sure of the practical and everyday application of the rules and laws that have survived from antiquity. we do know that spartan women were treated somewhat differently than in other states. for example, they had to do physical training like men, were permitted to own land, and could drink wine.