scholarly journals High female suicide rates: ecological fallacy or sad reality?

2007 ◽  
Vol 190 (3) ◽  
pp. 273-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Salib ◽  
G. Tadros
1994 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 858-858 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Lester

In 23 nations from 1970 through 1984, no convergence was observed between the male and female suicide rates or between the male and female homicide rates.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Mitch Kunce

Abstract This paper revisits the purported impact of socioeconomic and social environment factors on annual, U.S. state-level suicide rates. Special attention is paid to the right-hand-side linking covariates directly to Durkheim's (1897/1951) significant contributions to established ecological suicide research. Results from a Haus-man-Taylor panel specification lend little support to Durkheim's social integra-tion/regulation hypothesis that aggregate social forces matter in explaining varia-tions in regional suicide rates. Data from 1990-2019 and the advanced empirical method support the mounting sentiment of an abiding ecological fallacy plaguing suicidology. JEL classification numbers: C51, R11, I31. Keywords: Hausman-Taylor, Suicide rates, Socioeconomic factors.


Author(s):  
Yongsheng Tong ◽  
Michael R. Phillips ◽  
Yi Yin ◽  
Zhichao Lan

Abstract Aims The 2014 World Health Organization report on global suicide identified large differences in the male-to-female ratio of suicide rates between countries: most high-income countries (HICs) report ratios of 3:1 or higher while many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) – including China and India – report ratios of less than 1.5:1. Most authors suggest that gender-based social-cultural factors lead to higher rates of suicidal behaviour among women in LMICs and, thus, to relatively high female suicide rates. We aim to test an alternative hypothesis: differences in the method and case-fatality of suicidal behaviour – not differences in the rates of suicidal behaviour – are the main determinants of higher female suicide rates in LMICs. Methods A prospective registry of suicide attempts treated in all 14 general hospitals in a rural county in China was established and data from the registry were integrated with population and mortality data from the same county from 2009 to 2014. Results There were 160 suicides and 1010 medically-treated suicidal attempts in the county; 84% of female suicides and 58% of male suicides ingested pesticides while 73% of female attempted suicides and 72% of male attempted suicides ingested pesticides. The suicide rate (per 100 000 person-years of exposure) was 8.4 in females and 9.1 in males (M:F ratio = 1.08:1) while the incidence of ‘serious suicidal acts’ (i.e. those that result in death or received treatment in a hospital) was 81.5 in females and 47.7 in males (M:F ratio = 0.59:1). The case-fatality of serious suicidal acts was higher in males than in females (19 v. 10%), increased with age, was highest for violent methods (92%), intermediate for pesticide ingestion (13%) and lowest for other methods (5%). Conclusions The incidence of medically serious suicidal behaviour among females in rural China was similar to that reported in HICs, but the case-fatality was much higher, primarily because most suicidal acts involved the ingestion of pesticides, which had a higher case-fatality than methods commonly used by women in HICs. These findings do not support sociological explanations for the relatively high female suicide rate in China but, rather, suggest that gender-specific method choice and the case-fatality of different methods are more important determinants of the demographic profile of suicide rates. Further research that involves ongoing monitoring of the changing incidence, demographic profile and case-fatality of different suicidal methods in urban and rural parts of both LMICs and HICs is needed to confirm this hypothesis.


1998 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 126-126
Author(s):  
David Lester

For France from 1950 to 1985, divorce, marriage and birth rates predicted the crude and the age-adjusted male and female suicide rates identically.


Crisis ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 90-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siobhán Lucey ◽  
Paul Corcoran ◽  
Helen S Keeley ◽  
Justin Brophy ◽  
Ella Arensman ◽  
...  

Abstract. This ecological study examined the association between seven socioeconomic indicators (GDP, unemployment rate, female labor force participation rate, alcohol expenditure, marriage rate, percentage of births outside of marriage, and indictable crime rate) and total, male, and female rates of suicide and suicide plus undetermined death in Ireland during the period 1968-2000. Analysis of the data expressed as absolute values showed highly significant associations between the socioeconomic indicators and the total, male, and female suicide rates. However, these associations were explained by the strongly trended data. The trended nature of the data was removed by using year-to-year differences. Analysis of the first-differenced data showed that none of the socioeconomic indicators was associated with the total, male, or female suicide rates with the exception of indictable crime, which had a significant independent effect on the female suicide rate (coefficient = 2.0, p < .01) but not on suicide plus undetermined death. This study highlights the need to use econometric methods in time-trend analyses, the lack of age-sex specific exposure data in this area, and the challenge of understanding trends in suicide in their socioeconomic context.


1994 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 351-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bijou Yang ◽  
David Lester

Using data from the 1970s, it was observed that the gross national product per capita was positively associated with male suicide rates in the Caribbean islands, with sociological variables playing a smaller role. In contrast, sociological variables played the more important role in the associations with female suicide rates.


2003 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillips Cutright ◽  
Robert M. Fernquist

Although age-specific female suicide rates have been available for over a century, sociologists have focused on comparing the levels of the rates across age groups, and in studying change overtime. Girard's (1993) article is the first systematic effort to compare the age structure of female suicide rates among national populations. From his study of 1976–1980 suicide rates in 49 less developed and more developed populations, Girard concluded that the age structure of female suicide rates was a function of the level of economic development. Our partial test of this theory found that the age structure of female suicide in mid-19th-century European populations was not at all like the structures of less developed countries in 1976–80. We also replaced Girard's qualitative typology with the index of dissimilarity, allowing quantitative assessment of differences between the age structure of suicide in the United States and the other 19 countries in this study. Age structures in 14 countries were significantly different from the U.S. structure. Tests for significant changes in age structures from 1955–64 to 1985–94 found 17 of the 20 populations had significant change in this period, with younger persons tending to increase their share, while persons 45 to 74 were losing their share.


2006 ◽  
Vol 188 (4) ◽  
pp. 354-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svein Reseland ◽  
Isabelle Bray ◽  
David Gunnell

BackgroundThe effect of recent increases in antidepressant prescribing on population suicide rates is uncertain.AimsTo investigate the relationship between antidepressant sales and trends in suicide rates.MethodGraphical and quantitative assessment of trends in suicide and antidepressant sales in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.ResultsSuicide rates declined in all four countries during the 1990s, whereas antidepressant sales increased by 3- to 4-fold. Decreasing suicide rates in Sweden and Denmark preceded the rise in anti-depressant sales by over 10 years, although the reductions accelerated between 1988 and 1990. In Norway, a modest but short-lived decline in suicide rates began around the time of the increase in antidepressant sales. In Finland, decreases in male suicide rates and to a lesser extent in female suicide rates began around the time of increased antidepressant sales. In all four countries decreases in suicide rates appeared to precede the widespread use of SSRIs.ConclusionsWe found mixed evidence that increases in antidepressant sales have coincided with a reduction in the number of suicides in Nordic countries.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document