Native Americans and the constant death instinct hypothesis.

To test Tabachnick and Klugman's hypothesis that the amount of death instinct per capita in different regions is constant, 1975-1977 death rates for motor vehicle accidents, cirrhosis, and suicide were obtained from the US Indian Health Service for all 11 health service areas. In contrast to predictions derived from the hypothesis that the death instinct is constant, no negative correlations were found among these three variables. Although an analysis of other behaviors might yield different findings, these results do not support an hypothesis of a constant death instinct among Indian Health Service regions.