Quantcast

Suicide rates rising for older US adults

Suicide rates for adults between 40 and 64 years of age in the U.S. have risen about 40% since 1999, with a sharp rise since 2007. One possible explanation could be the detrimental effects of the economic downturn of 2007-2009, leading to disproportionate effects on house values, household finances, and retirement savings for that age group. In a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers found that external economic factors were present in 37.5% of all completed suicides in 2010, rising from 32.9% in 2005.

In addition, suffocation, a method more likely to be used in suicides related to job, economic, or legal factors, increased disproportionately among the middle-aged. The number of suicides using suffocation increased 59.5% among those aged 40-64 years between 2005 and 2010, compared with 18.0% for those aged 15-39 years and 27.2% for aged >65 years.

“Relative to other age groups, a larger and increasing proportion of middle-aged suicides have circumstances associated with job, financial, or legal distress and are completed using suffocation,” noted study authors Katherine A. Hempstead, PhD, Director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Princeton, NJ, and the Center for State Health Policy at Rutgers University, and Julie A. Phillips, PhD, Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research, New Brunswick, NJ. “The sharpest increase in external circumstances appears to be temporally related to the worst years of the Great Recession, consistent with other work showing a link between deteriorating economic conditions and suicide. External circumstances also have increased in importance among those aged ?65 years. Financial difficulties related to the loss of retirement savings in the stock market crash may explain some of this trend.”

Using data from the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), which links information on violent deaths from multiple sources including medical examiner and coroner reports, toxicology reports, law enforcement records, supplemental homicide reports, and death certificates, researchers were able to analyze 17 distinct suicide circumstances and four indicators related to planning and intent.

The suicide circumstances were grouped into three major categories: personal, interpersonal, and external. Examples of personal circumstances are depressed mood, current treatment for a mental health problem, or alcohol dependence. Interpersonal circumstances include an intimate partner problem, the death of a friend, or being a victim of intimate partner violence. Examples of external circumstances are a job or financial problem, legal problem, or difficulty in school.

The four planning and intent factors are crisis in the past two weeks, leaving a suicide note, disclosing an intent to commit suicide, or a history of prior attempts.

The authors caution that “increased awareness is needed that job loss, bankruptcy, foreclosure, and other financial setbacks can be risk factors for suicide. Human resource departments, employee assistance programs, state and local employment agencies, credit counselors, and others who interact with those in financial distress should improve their ability to recognize people at risk and make referrals. Increasing access to crisis counseling and other mental health services on an emergency basis, as is often provided at times of natural disaster, should also be considered in the context of economic crises.”




The material in this press release comes from the originating research organization. Content may be edited for style and length. Want more? Sign up for our daily email.

3 thoughts on “Suicide rates rising for older US adults”

  1. The goal of UN Agenda 21 is to reduce the human population of Earth by 6.5 billion to 500 million.

    Anything that helps us get there is A-OK with the UN.

    • “If you destroy one life it is as if you have destroyed the whole world, but if you save one life it is as if you have saved the whole world.” — Talmud.

      It is my impression that many old and depressed people quietly allow or cause themselves to slip away from this life, without due regard to the ethical considerations for themselves or for others. I am opposed to this suicidal attitude and your claim and that of the UN for a reduction of the total numbers of humans can be better met by good control of fertility (“birth control”) through contraception methods.

      One UN problem not being solved is the better distribution of food to poor countries, as well as the large amount of it being wasted in the more affluent regions. Land is not being properly used but because of speculation in its growing value is deliberately held out of use by its owners. This is morally wrong.

  2. This is not a “bug” in a rational system but a “feature” in a perverted, sociopathic one. “Die, dammit, die” is the 1% matra towards the 99% – blame the victims, etc. People don’t have to accept this endless “crapola” from our political, business and social leaders. People can collectively work outside the corrupt status quo and create their own universal basic income (UBI) thru a new debt-free, digital currency. To see how this can be accomplished, please visit this new educational website “www.i-globals.org”. Please don’t give up people, we can help ourselves if we stop believing the lies of the 1% criminal oligarchy.

Comments are closed.