Per Capita Alcohol Consumption and Suicide Rates in the U.S., 1950–2002

The aim of this paper was to estimate how suicide rates in the United States are affected by changes in per capita consumption during the postwar period. The analysis included Annual suicide rates and per capita alcohol consumption data (total and beverage specific) for the period 1950–2002. Gender‐ and age‐specific models were estimated using the Box‐Jenkins technique for time series analysis. No significant estimate was found for males. For females the total alcohol estimate (0.059) was significant at the 10% level whereas the spirits estimate was significant with an effect of 0.152. The results imply that a change in U.S. per capita consumption would result in a change in female suicide rates, whereas the male rates would not be affected.     

Tobacco and alcohol tax relationships with suicide in Switzerland

Previous research has shown an empirical link between tobacco and alcohol use and suicide. If tobacco and alcohol use contribute to suicidal behaviors, then policies designed to reduce the tobacco and alcohol consumption may succeed in reducing suicides as well. To test this hypothesis, correlations for suicide rates with alcohol consumption, taxes on alcohol and tobacco in Switzerland were examined using sets of time-series data from Switzerland in 1965-1994. The tax on tobacco correlated significantly negatively with male standardized suicide rate. The tax on alcohol also correlated significantly with male standardized suicide rate in an autoregressive model. On the other hand, significant relationships with female suicide rate were not found. Policies designed to reduce tobacco consumption are consistent with a benefit of reducing suicides, particularly for men in this sample.     

Alcohol Consumption and Nearly Lethal Suicide Attempts

W e conducted a case‐control study of the association between nearly lethal suicide attempts and facets of alcohol consumption; namely, drinking frequency, drinking quantity, binge drinking, alcoholism, drinking within 3 hours of suicide attempt, and age began drinking. Subjects were 13–34 years of age. In bivariable analyses, all measures were associated with nearly lethal suicide attempts. Odds ratios ranged from 2.4 for alcoholism to 7.0 for drinking within 3 hours of attempt. All exposure variables except age began drinking exhibited a J‐shaped relationship between alcohol exposure and nearly lethal suicide attempt. After controlling for potential confounders and other measures of alcohol exposure, drinking within 3 hours of attempt remained most strongly (odds ratios > 6) associated. Alcoholism remained significantly associated in most models, but at lower strength.     

Alcohol and suicide death among American Indians of New Mexico: 1980-1998

The relationship between alcohol use prior to suicide was explored among American Indian decedents in New Mexico for the years 1980 through 1998. The suicide data were collected from New Mexico Vital Statistics and toxicology reports from the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator and matched on a case-by-case basis. Detailed analyses were undertaken for all cases of resident New Mexico Indians from the Navajo, Pueblo, and Apache cultures. Alcohol was detected in 69% of all suicides of American Indians with some variance by major tribal cultural groups (range = 62.1% to 84.4%). This is higher than in suicides among the overall New Mexico population (44.3%). The mean blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of the drinking Indian decedents at suicide was 0.198 (+/- SD of .088). Mean BACs were high for both males (0.199) and females (0.180) who had been drinking. Over 90% of the Indian decedents who had been drinking had BACs greater than the legal intoxication level of 0.08. The Navajo had the lowest percentage of cases that were alcohol involved, and their mean BAC was lower than the other two cultural groups. Alcohol use for completed suicides also varied somewhat by age, sex, method of suicide, and place of occurrence, but very little by whether the decedent was an on or off reservation resident. Analyses indicated that alcohol use prior to suicide was significantly more associated with male suicides than for females, and it was negatively correlated for those who died by overdose and also those using other drugs at suicide. Otherwise, alcohol use did not significantly differentiate American Indian suicides by age, use of firearms, hanging, use of other methods, or residence, for the presence of alcohol was a factor very commonly associated with all of these variables. Heavy alcohol consumption is, therefore, an important factor in over two thirds of all completed suicides among the Indians of New Mexico.     

Stuttering,alcohol consumption and smoking

PurposeLimited research has been published regarding the association between stuttering and substance use. An earlier study provided no evidence for such an association, but the authors called for further research to be conducted using a community sample. The present study used data from a community sample to investigate whether an association between stuttering and alcohol consumption or regular smoking exists in late adolescence and adulthood.MethodsRegression analyses were carried out on data from a birth cohort study, the National Child Development Study (NCDS), whose initial cohort included 18,558 participants who have since been followed up until age 55. In the analyses, the main predictor variable was parent-reported stuttering at age 16. Parental socio-economic group, cohort member's sex and childhood behavioural problems were also included. The outcome variables related to alcohol consumption and smoking habits at ages 16, 23, 33, 41, 46, 50 and 55.ResultsNo significant association was found between stuttering and alcohol consumption or stuttering and smoking at any of the ages. It was speculated that the absence of significant associations might be due to avoidance of social situations on the part of many of the participants who stutter, or adoption of alternative coping strategies.ConclusionBecause of the association between anxiety and substance use, individuals who stutter and are anxious might be found to drink or smoke excessively, but as a group, people who stutter are not more likely than those who do not to have high levels of consumption of alcohol or nicotine.     

Suicide Ideation,Alcohol Consumption,Motives, and Related Problems: Exploring the Association in College Students

Previous findings on the relationship between suicide ideation (SI) and alcohol misuse among college students are inconsistent, leading to conflicting clinical implications. We aimed to clarify this relationship in order to determine the utility of regarding alcohol misuse as a risk factor for SI in this population. Unselected college students (N = 545) completed an online survey including measures of alcohol consumption, problems, drinking motives, SI, and related variables. Our results suggest alcohol misuse is not a correlate of SI among college students; therefore, one should not assume that students who misuse alcohol are necessarily at increased risk for SI.     

Psychiatric and substance use disorders as risk factors for attempted suicide among adolescents: a case control study

The objective of this research was to test substance-related and non-substance-related psychiatric disorders as predictors of attempted suicide among adolescents. Ninety-six psychiatrically disordered suicide attempters were matched one-to-one to 96 psychiatrically disordered non-attempters on age, race, gender, and the presence/absence of major depression. Conditional logistic regression was used to test psychiatric risk factors for their power to predict attempted suicide among adolescents. Bipolar disorder, cocaine use disorders, and conduct disorder were found to be predictive of attempted suicide in univariate testing. Bipolar disorder, inhalant use disorders, cocaine use disorders, and hallucinogen use disorders were found to be predictive of attempted suicide, after adjusting for all other covariates. Loglinear analyses revealed high odds ratios associated with the comorbidities of alcohol use disorder with conduct disorder and drug use disorders with conduct disorder in both groups. Higher rates of cocaine use disorder/conduct disorder, hallucinogen use disorder/conduct disorder, and alcohol use disorder/ conduct disorder were found among suicide attempters. Evaluation of these particular comorbid conditions should be part of the adolescent suicide risk assessment.     

Identification With Mainstream Culture and Preference for Alternative Alcohol Treatment Approaches in a Community Sample

Although various treatment approaches are available for alcohol problems, less than 25% of individuals with alcohol use disorders obtain treatment. The purpose of this study is to evaluate interest in attending alternative alcohol treatments, such as meditation and acupuncture, compared to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). A community sample of 156 adult participants concerned about their drinking were recruited through flyers and newspaper advertisements to complete a Web-based survey assessing identification with mainstream culture, sexual identity, and likelihood to attend alternative alcohol treatments. Participants reported higher likelihood of attending alternative treatments as compared to AA, and lesbian, gay, and bisexual participants (28.2% of the sample) were more likely to attend alternative treatments than heterosexual participants. A series of regression analyses were conducted to test whether the relationship between sexual identity and likelihood to attend alternative treatments was mediated by identification with mainstream culture. Participants who were less strongly identified with mainstream culture, regardless of sexual identity, reported higher likelihood of attending alternative treatments. These findings highlight that, for certain subgroups of the population, alternative treatments for alcohol misuse are appealing and suggest the need for future research testing the efficacy of alternative treatments for alcohol problems.     

Suicide: a 15-year review of the sociological literature. Part I: cultural and economic factors

Cultural and economic patterns from 130 sociological works on suicide from 1981 to 1995 are reviewed in this article. The traditional Durkheimian perspective on suicide was often questioned by research on the impact of the mass media, alcohol, class, modernization, religion, and politics. Major theoretical developments included the application of differential identification theory to Phillips's model of copycat suicide, the application of criminology's opportunity theory to suicide, and new explanations for the link between alcohol and the social suicide rate. Explanations are reviewed for the major new suicide trend: after half a century of convergence, male and female suicide rates are diverging. Finally, the review notes patterns of continued stability in suicide research findings in areas such as racial differences and economic strain.     

Life Stress,Social Support,and Problem-Solving Skills Predictive of Depressive Symptoms,Hopelessness, and Suicide Ideation in an Asian Student Population: A Test of a Model

The present study tested both a stress-problem-solving model and a stress-social support model in the etiology of depressive symptoms, hopelessness, and suicide ideation for a group of Asian international students in the United States. Problem-solving skills and social support were hypothesized as two mediators between life stress and depressive symptoms, hopelessness, and suicide ideation. The results from a series of stepwise regression analyses and a path analysis support the hypotheses, indicating that these models generalized to a sample of Asian international students. The roles of social support and problem-solving skills in depressive symptoms and hopelessness are discussed. The results also suggest that hopelessness may serve as a cognitive factor directly affecting depressive symptoms and indirectly affecting suicide ideation.     

The impact of epidemic, war, prohibition and media on suicide: United States, 1910-1920.

The paper utilizes a natural experiment approach to estimate the impact of exogenous social and political events on suicide behavior in the United States between 1910 and 1920. The study is concerned with determining the impact of World War I, the great Influenza Epidemic, and the prohibition experiment on suicide. Estimating the monthly population in the United States registration area from 1910 to 1920, monthly suicide and mortality rates are computed. A time-series model is postulated, and second-order autoregressive estimates are used to determine the impact of the independent variables in the model. It is concluded that World War I did not influence suicide; the Great Influenza Epidemic caused it to increase; and the continuing decline in alcohol consumption between 1910 and 1920 depressed national suicide rates. Further individual-level aggregate studies are needed to confirm the findings of the study.     

Controlling anger in self-reported sober and alcohol intoxicated states: moderating effects of trait anger and alcohol consumption

Controlling anger in self-reported sober and alcohol intoxicated states: Moderating effects of trait anger and alcohol consumption. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 52, 382-388. Retrospective self-reports about prior sober and alcohol intoxicated states were explored to reveal moderating effects of trait anger and alcohol consumption on anger control. The analyses were based on self-reports of trait anger and alcohol consumption as well as self-reports of the participants' typical levels of anger control in sober and alcohol intoxicated states in a population based sample of Finnish twins and their siblings (N = 4,852). The reported levels of anger control were lower regarding prior alcohol intoxicated states than sober states. A three-way interaction between alcohol consumption, trait anger and anger control was found. Whereas no interaction between alcohol consumption and trait anger was found in the self-reported sober state, there was an interactive effect of trait anger and alcohol consumption on anger control in the intoxicated state, indicating that the difference in anger control between those with high levels of alcohol consumption and those with low levels, was greater at higher levels of trait anger. Women had lower levels of anger control than men, but the relationship between trait anger, alcohol consumption and anger control was similar for both genders. In conclusion, the results showed that those with high levels of trait anger and alcohol consumption showed the lowest levels of anger control in self-reported alcohol intoxicated states, and indicate the importance of separating between anger control when sober and intoxicated since anger control seems to be differently related to at least trait anger and alcohol consumption in these states.     

Selected risk factors in adolescent suicide attempts.

This study examined stress, depression, attempted suicide, and knowledge of common signs of potential suicide in Alabama adolescents. A modified version of the National Adolescent Student Health Survey (NASHS) was administered to 3,803 eighth- and tenth-grade public school students during the fall of 1988. The incidence of stress, depression, and attempted suicide was analyzed by gender, ethnicity, locale (urban vs. rural), and participation in sexual intercourse and use of alcohol. Chi-square tests were used to determine if there were significant differences between groups. Findings indicated that females were at greater risk than were males. Both males and females who engaged in sexual intercourse and alcohol consumption were at greater risk than were abstainers. When analyzed by ethnicity, white adolescents who engaged in these behaviors were at significantly greater risk than were those who abstained; differences were not as pronounced for black youth. Comparisons on the knowledge scale indicated that females scored better than males, whites scored better than blacks, and urban students scored better than rural students. The data suggest that many adolescents are having difficulty coping with stress and depression, and that those who are engaging in various types of risk-taking behavior are at greater risk for depression and suicide.     

Gender and Suicide Method: Do Women Avoid Facial Disfiguration?

This study hypothesizes that women are less likely than men to use suicide methods that disfigure the face. Gender differences in the use of suicide methods that disfigure the face were examined using medical examiner??s files of 621 suicides covering a 10-year period from Summit County, Ohio in the U.S. Results showed that while firearms are the preferred method for both women and men, women were less likely to shoot themselves in the head. A series of logistic regression analyses revealed that gender, age, stressful life events and prior suicide attempts were predictors of methods that disfigure the face/head. Significant differences between men and women in correlates of suicide method emerged when the sample was split by gender. The results support the position that women who commit suicide are more likely than men who commit suicide to avoid facial disfiguration.     

Affordances for drinking alcohol: A non‐participant observation study in licensed premises

Alcohol misuse is a pressing area of public health concern. This non‐participant observational study investigated the functional characteristics of on‐licensed premises where alcohol is consumed. Seven different licensed premises from South Central England were visited and observed for similar three hour periods on Saturday evenings. Observations within these ecological niches were grouped using a functional taxonomy of affordances and effectivities related to alcohol drinking. Affordances provide a theoretically grounded and useful concept for evaluating how individuals behave in drinking contexts, while identifying action opportunities for inhibiting and promoting consumption. Identified alcohol‐related affordances were related to: Alcohol access, regulations, furnishing, alternative opportunities for action, décor and lighting, drink and accessory availability, and action opportunities provided by others. This research has implications for understanding alcohol consumption in real‐time, social environments, with direct implications for preventing excessive consumption within community alcohol outlets.     

Adolescent alcohol use and suicide indicators among adolescents in Hawaii

Research on suicide has focused on gender, age, ethnicity, and psychiatric profiles. However, few studies have examined alcohol use and its relationship to suicide among Native Hawaiians and other Asian American/Pacific Islanders. This study analyzes data from the 1997 and 1999 Hawaii Youth Risk Behavior Survey to examine whether alcohol problems increase the risk for suicide indicators (as evidenced by responses to questions asking whether an individual has considered, planned, attempted, or required treatment for a suicide attempt). Drinking pattern was the best predictor for all suicide indicators. School and community-based programs can help to increase an adolescent's knowledge about the consequences of alcohol use and prevention of suicide.     

The fading affect bias across alcohol consumption frequency for alcohol-related and non-alcohol-related events

The Fading Affect Bias (FAB) is the tendency for unpleasant emotions to fade more over time than pleasant emotions (Walker, Vogl, & Thompson, 1997). The FAB is negatively related to dysphoria (Walker, Skowronski, Gibbons, Vogl, & Thompson, 2003), which led researchers to suggest that the FAB is a healthy coping mechanism that improves the overall positivity of life (Walker, Skowronski, & Thompson, 2003). The FAB may also reinforce certain maladaptive behaviors, such as drinking alcohol, as the unpleasant emotions associated with those behaviors quickly fade from memory, and increase the likelihood of those behaviors in the future. If the FAB increases the likelihood of maladaptive alcohol consumption, the FAB should be greatest for ordinary events at low alcohol consumption levels, whereas the FAB should be greatest for alcohol events at high alcohol consumption levels. The results of two studies provided support for the hypotheses. The implications are discussed.     

Characteristics of suicide attempters in a Slovenian high school population

The study was carried out on a representative sample of Slovenian high school students (n = 3687) of whom 238 (137 girls and 101 boys) have already attempted suicide. Both suicide attempters and nonattempters were assessed by a questionnaire consisting of Zung's (1965) Depression Scale, Rosenberg's (1965) Self-Esteem Scale, sociodemographic data, information on suicide attempt, suicide ideation, family relations, and substance abuse. Statistical analyses indicated that groups differed in the levels of self-esteem, emotional reaction to family problems, running away from home, and substance abuse. The differences in the level of depression, frequency of suicide ideation, family suicide occurrence, smoking, and alcohol use were significant.     

A Study of Suicide and Socioeconomic Factors

The topic of suicide has long been an important socioeconomic issue studied in many countries. Suicides inject an atmosphere of unrest into society, and media attention furthers that social uneasiness. From the viewpoint of economics and management, suicide is a waste of human resource: it decreases the labor force in society and deteriorates human capital. This paper provides a series of analyses of suicide rate based on theoretical reasoning and empirical approaches. Aggregate data from G7 countries are obtained and stacked into panel data for analysis. Data are collected for different age groups. Even though suicide issues have been extensively discussed in the past, newly developed econometric tools are applied to her. Beyond previously recognized relationships between economic factors and suicide rates findings include that unemployment strikes men more than women in terms of psychological pressure: for middle age or older women, unemployment may even be positive for the entire family; and female labor force participation exerts pressure on male counterparts and increases its suicide rate. As a result, a low income family with an unemployed man and an employed woman is at high risk for adult male suicide.