[Informatics] The SAT: Cat bites and depression

[Mark]

Hi, hypothesisors

In an effort to find engaging hypotheses and statistics for introducing the
SAT to kids, I have found this:

Cat bites are linked to depression.

A study of 1.3 million health records showed that 47% of women and 24% of
men  who suffered cat bites severe enough to need medical treatment were
diagnosed with depression - compared to 9% in the general population.

But do cat bites cause depression, or does depression cause the owning of
cats?
Or is the relationship between the variables even more complex?

- The original study
<http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0070585>

- A psych viewpoint
<http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2014/02/24/does-cat-bite-mean-you-also-have-depression/>

- A newspaper report
<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2524993/Why-cat-bite-trigger-depression.html>

​Kids might find it interesting to investigate the possible causal
relationships, the various hypotheses that can be formulated, and the ways
in which statistics are used in the sources.​

P.S. I also found this <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJlualhdUpc> but
it's not quite as relevant.​​

-- 

Mark Kelly

mark at vceit.com
http://vceit.com
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