Suicide is an increasingly common social and cultural phenomenon in the West and affects a very large percentage of the population. As the numbers are alarming, more and more studies and projects are being carried out to detect and prevent suicidal behaviors.
In recent years, motives, internal and external, and situations that can lead someone to develop suicidal thoughts or consume suicide have been analyzed.
- A recent study published in The European Journal of Psychology Applied to Legal Context examined the socioeconomic variables associated with suicidal behavior.
- Their findings provided very important data for the development of prevention and assistance plans.
There are voices who argue that the more there is talk of suicide in the media, the more he is encouraged to commit the act, however, the solution is not to ignore the issue.
The truth is that detecting possible suicidal behavior is the most effective way to prevent it in time, so all data that helps us identify risk factors for suicidal behavior should be taken into account.
The team that conducted this study analyzed sociodemographic variables related to suicidal ideation, suicide attempts and consummated suicide, and also included in the study the analysis of the methods used to carry it out.
The study analyzed journals published over a full decade, from 2005 to 2015, in Europe and North and South America, and the sources of the analyses were the psycINFO, Medline, Main Collection of Web of Science, Scopus and SciELO databases.
A total of 5,222 records were extracted, including 53 studies under evaluation. The main objective of this broader study was to analyze the relationships between sociodemographic variables that appear to be more related to suicidal behavior and the chosen way to commit suicide.
This study has yielded very valuable results, then we will see
In terms of sex and age, men seem to commit more suicide than women, although women have more (unsumed) suicide attempts.
The theory linking the attempt to draw attention does not seem true, as the study shows that this was not one of the consequences of attempts, women seem to be more associated with suicidal thoughts, planning and suicide attempts, predominantly the first and third options.
Age also seems to be a factor, there are more suicides in the elderly, but in this case the difference between the sexes is not significant.
As for the region of residence, marital status and employment status, the study yields results that leave no room for much doubt.
Rural areas appear to be more associated with suicidal behaviors, as well as low levels of education, people who do not have stable emotional relationships, and people who are unemployed.
In the analysis carried out on this database, the most commonly used method in suicidal behaviors is death by hanging, then appear in descending order: death by firearm, poisoning or overdose and precipitation from a high place.
As for the differentiation of the methodology by sex, it is men who use the hanging method the most (more than 50%) and firearms, although firearms are the most widely used method in the United States, according to this study.
Statistically, women are more likely to fall from high places. Almost 40% choose this method. Drug poisoning is also used much more by women than men.
This study provides very important information on some of the variables that can be considered in the development of suicide prevention policies.
This does not mean that everyone in these variables is at risk of developing suicidal behavior. In many cases, major depressive states and other psychological disorders also occur.
However, many suicide attempts and many consummated suicides, as well as many suicidal thoughts, occur without pathological conditions; therefore, it is important to accept these variables across the spectrum of risk factors for suicidal behavior.
Information much needed to address a very current problem that reveals a reality that we cannot ignore.