%0 Journal Article
%T Does Socioeconomic Development Explain the Association Between Seafood Consumption and Cross
%A Alexander Testa
%A Douglas B. Weiss
%A Mateus Renn¨® Santos
%J Homicide Studies
%@ 1552-6720
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/1088767918760374
%X 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
%K homicide
%K cross-national criminology
%K biosocial
%K spurious
%K nutrition
%K violence
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1088767918760374