Atmospheric and Temporal Correlates of Sex Crimes: Endogenous Factors Do Not Explain Seasonal Differences in Rape

It was hypothesized that environmental rather than endogenous factors are responsible for seasonal differences in rapes and other sex crimes. Data on four types of sex crimes, nine meteorological variables, and photochemical oxidants, covering a 2-year period, were collected to test this hypothesis. As hypothesized, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that seasonal differences in rapes, indecent exposure, and miscellaneous sex crimes shrank to nonsignificance after meteorological variables were added to prediction equations, but seasonal differences in obscene phone calls retained their significance in analyses that controlled for atmospheric conditions. Further analysis revealed that fewer sex crimes were committed on cold than warm days, and ozone was associated with complaints about obscene phone calls. It was concluded that tabulations of seasonal trends should give way to experiments on the effects of atmospheric variables on sexual and other types of behavior.