Beliefs About Suicide Acceptability in the United States: How Do They Affect Suicide Mortality?

Publisher: published on behalf of the Gerontological Society of America by Oxford University Press Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 9508483 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1758-5368 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 10795014 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: Washington, DC : published on behalf of the Gerontological Society of America by Oxford University Press
Original Publication: Washington, DC : Gerontological Society of America, c1995-

Culture*; Suicide/*psychology ; Suicide, Completed/*statistics & numerical data; Adult ; Attitude ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Risk Factors ; Suicide/statistics & numerical data ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; United States/epidemiology

Objectives: Societies develop cultural scripts to understand suicide and define conditions under which the act is acceptable. Prior empirical work suggests that such attitudes are important in understanding some forms of suicidal behavior among adolescents and high-risk populations. This study examines whether expressions of suicide acceptability under different circumstances are predictive of subsequent death by suicide in the general U.S. adult population and whether the effects differ over the life course.
Method: The study uses 1978-2010 General Social Survey data linked to the National Death Index through 2014 (n = 31,838). Cox survival models identify risk factors for suicide mortality, including attitudinal and cohort effects.
Results: Expressions of suicide acceptability are predictive of subsequent death by suicide-in some cases associated with a twofold increase in risk. Attitudes elevate the suicide hazard among older (>55 years) adults but not among younger (ages 33-54) adults. Fully-adjusted models reveal that the effects of attitudes toward suicide acceptability on suicide mortality are strongest for social circumstances (family dishonor; bankruptcy).
Discussion: Results point to the role of cultural factors and social attitudes in suicide. There may be utility in measuring attitudes in assessments of suicide risk.
(© The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: [email protected].)

Keywords: Attitudes and beliefs; Cohort; Life course; Suicide

Date Created: 20180130 Date Completed: 20200914 Latest Revision: 20200914

20240628

10.1093/geronb/gbx153

29378018