Does Socioeconomic Development Explain the Association Between Seafood Consumption and Cross-National Homicide?

• Date: 01 August 2018
• Author: Douglas B. Weiss,Mateus Rennó Santos,Alexander Testa
• DOI: 10.1177/1088767918760374
• Published date: 01 August 2018
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/1088767918760374

Homicide Studies

2018, Vol. 22(3) 256 –276

© 2018 SAGE Publications

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DOI: 10.1177/1088767918760374

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Article

Does Socioeconomic

Development Explain the

Association Between

Seafood Consumption and

Cross-National Homicide?

Alexander Testa1, Mateus Rennó Santos1,

and Douglas B. Weiss2

Abstract

Biological theories of crime propose that neurological benefits from consuming

omega-3 fatty acids can reduce aggressive behavior. At the macro level, prior work

has found a negative bivariate association between seafood consumption and homicide

rates. Using data from a sample of 82 countries, and applying both multivariate

regression and structural equation modeling, we find that socioeconomic development

simultaneously affects the consumption of seafood and homicide rates, generating a

spurious relationship. These findings demonstrate that omitting theoretically relevant

variables, as well as inferring macro-level associations from micro-level patterns,

can lead to erroneous conclusions regarding support for criminological theories or

criminal justice policies.

Keywords

homicide, cross-national criminology, biosocial, spurious, nutrition, violence

Introduction

Seafood consumption has been found to have a strong negative association with cross-

national homicide rates (Hibbeln, 2001; Hibbeln, Nieminen, Blasbalg, Riggs, & Lands,

2006). The link between seafood consumption and homicide has gained traction in

1University of Maryland, College Park, USA

2California State University, San Bernardino, USA

Corresponding Author:

Alexander Testa, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Maryland, 2220 Samuel

J. LeFrak Hall, College Park, MD 20742, USA.

Email: atesta@umd.edu

760374HSXXXX10.1177/1088767918760374Homicide StudiesTesta et al.

research-article2018

Testa et al. 257

academic literature and is cited in academic research journals spanning a variety of fields

including nutrition (Whelan & Rust, 2006), biosocial criminology (Raine, 2013), psy-

chiatry (Freeman et al., 2006), psychology (Embry & Biglan, 2008), and prevention

science (Biglan, 2011). Although the relationship between seafood consumption and

homicide may be somewhat unexpected, the concept has theoretical roots in biosocial

explanations of aggression and criminal behavior. Seafood is rich in omega-3 fatty acids

which have been associated with reductions in anxiety, aggression, and violence

(Hibbeln, 2001; Hibbeln et al., 2006; Iribarren et al., 2004; Raine, 2013; Raine, Portnoy,

Liu, Mahoomed, & Hibbeln, 2015). This association has led some to propose that poli-

cies aimed to expand omega-3 rich diets and nutritional supplements, particularly to

vulnerable populations, can serve as effective instruments for crime prevention (Raine

et al., 2015; Rocque, Welsh, & Raine, 2012).

Although prior research has accumulated strong evidence of an association between

omega-3 consumption and aggressive behavior at the individual level (Buydens-

Branchey et al., 2008; Raine et al., 2015), prior work on the macro-level association

between seafood consumption and homicide contains two major limitations (Hibbeln,

2001; Hibbeln et al., 2006). First, research proposing that the association between

omega-3 consumption and interpersonal violence at the individual level can explain

between-country differences in homicide rates falls victim to the atomistic fallacy (i.e.,

aggregate relationships are inferred from individual-level associations). The assump-

tion that population-level seafood consumption corresponds with population-level

violence is flawed as it assumes that a greater amount of seafood consumption would

necessarily correspond to increased consumption among those at greater risk of

involvement in interpersonal violence. Contrary to this assumption, prior work shows

that seafood consumption is unequally distributed across the population in a given

country (Bredahl & Grunert, 1997; Cardoso, Lourenço, Costa, Gonçalves, & Nunes,

2013). Second, past research has failed to include adequate controls for confounding

factors related to country-level homicides, as well as with dietary patterns and seafood

consumption (Darmon & Drewnowski, 2008; Kearney, 2010). In the following sec-

tions, we review prior literature on the association between omega-3 fatty acid con-

sumption and interpersonal aggression. In doing so, we note that population-level

seafood consumption is largely driven by socioeconomic development and propose

that the association between seafood consumption and homicide rates results from the

failure of past work to account for differences in socioeconomic development which is

a strong predictor of both homicide rates and seafood consumption.

The Seafood Consumption and Homicide Association

Omega-3 acids are essential for proper human functioning, and a large body of research

has documented the health benefits of consuming omega-3 fatty acids. Appropriate

omega-3 consumption is associated with a reduction in the risk of heart disease, high

cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, certain forms of cancer, and can

improve overall health and well-being (Grosso et al., 2014; Kris-Etherton, Harris, &

Appel, 2002; MacLean et al., 2006; Ruxton, Reed, Simpson, & Millington, 2004;