Methodological Strategies in Suicide (original) (raw)
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Social Science Research, 2001
Publication of 19th-century age-and gender-specific suicide rates (Morselli, 1882, ) and similar 20th-century suicide rates (World Health Organization 1956, ) invited comparative study of the age structures of suicide, but Girard's 1993 article was the first detailed effort to construct a measure of age structure that would allow systematic comparative analysis of cross-national data. We replaced Girard's qualitative typology with a quantitative measure of age structures. We then tested the theory that economic development is a key to understanding the age structure of suicide. We found no difference between these structures around 1850 and those in industrialized countries more than a century later. Differences between the male age structure of suicide in the United States and the other 19 developed countries in the 1955-1994 period were measured. We also found that change in the age structure in each country between 1955-1964 and 1985-1994 was statistically significant in 19 of the 20 countries. Over this period the share of total suicides to men ages 15-44 increased in nearly all countries, while the share to men 45-74 declined. Regression analysis using measures of societal integration, the culture of suicide, and the 1955-1964 suicide rate successfully predicted the 1985-1994 age structure in 18 of 20 countries.
Social Science Research, 2000
Multiple indicators of societal integration and proxies for the culture of suicide form the model used to explain variation in male age-specific suicide rates from 1955 to 1989 in 20 developed countries. The hypothesis that certain determinants of suicide rates have changed over the period between 1955 and 1989 was rejected, as was the hypothesis that there are effects of period, net of measured predictors. The determinants of suicide rates do vary by age, with the culture of suicide playing an especially important role in the 35-64 age group.
2007
ABSTPACT Suicide rates vary greatly by sex an race, but the methods employed by these groups have not been studied closely and across time. Annual official national statistics for specific methods of suicide by sex and specific racial group were examined from 1923 to 1978. During this time period, shifts occurred in the proportions of suicides by method, most noteably for women and Asian-American groups. Although women continued to kill themselves with solid and liquid poic,ons more often than men, in recent years firearms became a more frequent method. Among Japaneseand Chinese-Americans, the most common methods of suicide were hanging, strangulation, and suffocation,. However, the proportions declined over time, while those for methods such as firearms increased. Firearms continued to be the method most often used in completed suicides by Caucasian, Black, and Americar Indian males. Results suggest that acculturation, changing societal roles, and problems with the compilation of o...
Scientific reports, 2016
The objective was to examine changes in temporal trends in suicide mortality in 26 Western countries by retrospective trend analysis of the WHO mortality database on causes of deaths. From 1990 to 2010, there was a median reduction in suicide mortality of 22.7%, ranging from a 46% reduction in Estonia to a 26.2% increase in Romania. Suicide mortality decreased by ≥20% in 15 countries, and the reduction tended to be greater in countries with higher mortality in 1990. In most of the central European countries mortality strongly declined. The median changes in the age groups were -25.3% (range -62.9% to 72.6%) in people aged 15-24 years, -36.9% (-60.5% to 32.4%) in 25-34 years, -3.6% (-57.1% to 92%) in 35-54 years, -12.2% (-37% to 65,7%) in 55-74 years and -16.1% (-54.5% to 166.7%) in ≥75 years. Suicide prevention programs in youths and in the elderly seem to be effective (at least in females for the elderly) and efforts should be pursued in this way. However, suicide mortality of the ...
Inter-regional variations in suicide rates
Psychiatria Danubina, 2012
Suicidal behaviour is a significant public health problem. Suicide alone represents the 10th leading cause of death worldwide. Suicide is a complex phenomenon and may be the result of an interaction of biological, psychological and socioeconomic factors. Although there are many differences in suicide rates between different countries in the world, some studies reported huge differences of suicide rates between different regions within the same country as well. The studies that investigated the regional differences in suicide rates were gathered in the present article. The studies revealed that depression frequently remained unidentified and thus untreated and could contribute to high regional suicide rates. It could be speculated that access to services, which increases the possibility of diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders, could have an impact on regional suicide rates. Thus the availability of services may be relevant in explaining geographical variations in suicide incid...
Introduction: Over the past 20 years the WHO has considerably improved world mortality data. There are still shortcomings but more countries now report data and world-wide estimates are regularly made. Methods: Data about mortality have been retrieved from the WHO world database. Worldwide injury mortality estimates for 2008 as well as trends of the suicide rate from 1950 to 2009 were analysed. Results: Suicides in the world amount to 782 thousand in 2008 according to the WHO estimate, which is 1.4% of total mortality and 15% of injury mortality. The suicide rate for the world as a whole is estimated at 11.6 per 100,000 inhabitants. The male-female rate ratio of suicide is estimated to be highest in the European Region (4.0) and the lowest in the Eastern Mediterranean region (1.1). Among males the highest suicide rate in the 15-29 age group is in the SE Asian region, in the 45-59 age group in European males and for ages above 60 in the Western Pacific region. Females from SE Asia have a remarkably high suicide rate among 15-29-year-olds and from age 45 in the Western Pacific region. The leading country is currently Lithuania, with a suicide rate of 34.1 per 100,000 inhabitants. Also among males the suicide rate is the highest in Lithuania at 61.2. Among females South Korea with 22.1 is at the top of world suicide rates. Conclusions: During the past six decades, according to the WHO Japan, Hungary, and Lithuania have topped the list of world countries by suicide rate, but if the current trends continue South Korea will overtake all others in a few years. The heart of the problem of suicide mortality has shifted from Western Europe to Eastern Europe and now seems to be shifting to Asia. China and India are the biggest contributors to the absolute number of suicides in the world.