Urbanism and Suicide: A Study of American Counties

A replication of a cross-national study of the relationship between elderly suicide rates and urbanization

“…However, studies from advanced industrialized countries, including the U.S.A. and Japan, reported a negative correlation (Araki and Murata, 1986;Kowalski et al, 1987;Otsu et al, 2004). Moreover, a large cross-national study reported no such relationship (Zhang, 1998).…”

Elderly suicide rates: the importance of a non-linear relationship with distal risk and protective factors

“…However, this exponential-fit model did not fully explain the observed relationship between suicide and lower levels of intelligence in individual-level studies (O'Toole and Cantor, 1995;Gunnell et al, 2005) and an absence of a relationship between suicide rates and intelligence in societal-level studies within several countries (Lester, 1993;1995;Voracek, 2006b). Given the strong relationship between intelligence and educational attainment (Voracek, 2006c), this exponential-fit model also does not fully explain the observed relationships between suicide and both high (Kowalski et al, 1987;Fernquist, 2001) and low (Willis et al, 2003;Abel and Kruger, 2005) levels of educational attainment in both individual-level and societal-level studies. A Canadian ecological study observed a negative linear correlation between educational attainment and suicide rates in elderly females at a societal level (Agbayewa et al, 1998).…”

“…Studies from individual countries (Saunderson and Langford, 1996;Yip et al, 2000) reported a positive association between residence in rural areas and suicide in the general population. However, studies from advanced industrialized countries, including general population suicide rates in the USA (Kowalski et al, 1987) and male suicide rates in the general population in Japan (Otsu et al, 2004), reported a negative linear correlation. Moreover, a large cross-national study reported no such relationship (Zhang, 1998).…”

Firearm suicide decedents in the Republic of Ireland, 1980–2005

“…8 Suicide is also strongly associated with rural settings. [11][12][13] This has been linked to isolation and marginalisation, inferior access to mental and physical health services, and greater access to suicide methods. In some jurisdictions, including Ireland, firearms suicides have also been linked to rural living, reflecting ownership profiles where a significant proportion of all guns are owned by farmers and others involved in game and sport shooting.…”