List members,

I have pasted below a question posed to me by a friend. I thought that she might use a cross-tabs procedure (something like SPSS Answer Tree - though I don't think she has that module), but I'm really not sure. Any tips would be appreciated. Responses can be sent to me directly or to the list if you believe people would be interested.

Thanks in advance,

Nico Peruzzi

In many publications one sees references to the modal suicide. These often state, for example, that the modal suicide is a white male, elderly, who consumes too much alcohol, and makes one high lethality attempt with a gun. I am wondering if these modes are linked. That is, are these variables, related to age, race, weapon, etc., statistically combined in some way to come up with a profile attached to the modal suicide. Or are these variables merely high in frequency across the same sample. Within a single sample, could one view the curves associated with each variable, then select the highest peaks and say these peaks, as they represent the modes of several variables, represent a profile of the modal suicide within that sample? If anyone knows how to best do this I would very much appreciate the information. I am trying to describe the modal homicide. Thank you. Ashley King