A Social Problem Index for Canada

Abstract

Objective: To con struct an in dex that rep re sents the gen eral level of so cial prob lems among Ca na dian prov inces and ter ri to ries. Method: Fac tor weights were used to com bine pro vin cial and ter ri to rial rates for ho mi cide, at tem pted mur der, as sault, sex ual assault, rob bery, di vorce, sui cide, and al co hol ism into a sin gle So cial Prob lem In dex. Results: The re sult ing in dex dem on strated strong pos i tive intercorrelations among its fac tors across prov inces. That is, prov inces that showed high rates on one fac tor tended to show high rates on the oth ers as well. The va lidity of the So cial Prob lem In dex is dem on strated by its pos i tive cor re la tion with an in de pend ent mea sure of the like li hood o f hav ing ex pe ri enced per sonal trauma. Conclusions: The ro bust na ture and ap par ent va lid ity of the So cial Prob lem In dex sug gest that it can be well used for needs a ssess ments and the o ret i cal stud ies and as a feed back mech a nism to na tional, pro vin cial, and com mu nity lead ers on the so cial problem sta tus of their par tic u lar ju ris dic tions.