Relation of handedness with season of birth of professional baseball players revisited

We reexamined the relationship between month and season of birth and handedness in male professional baseball players listed in Lahman's Baseball Archive Vol. 4.5 database. The sample of 8,016 individuals (left-handed = 1,658; right-handed = 6,358) played major league baseball between 1900-2001. A slightly higher, but statistically significant, percentage of left-handed players were born in June compared to other months, and in the winter-spring months, but we were unable to corroborate Rogerson's spring and early summer categorization of handedness as related to birth season. The data did not support the hypothesis that the prevalence of left-handedness is related to season of birth.     

Birth month is not related to suicide among Major League Baseball players

In 2005, Abel and Kruger reported that, compared to the other 10 months of the year, Major League Baseball players are much less likely to commit suicide if they are born in July and much more likely to commit suicide if they are born in August. The data and statistical tests used to support this claim are both incorrect. A correct test applied to the complete, accurate data shows that there is no relationship between birth month and suicide for Major League Baseball players.     

Mental disorders and communication of intent to die in indigenous suicide cases, Queensland, Australia

In comparing Indigenous to non-Indigenous suicide in Australia, this study focussed on the frequency of the association between some psychiatric conditions, such as depression and alcohol abuse, and some aspect of suicidality, in particular communication of suicide intent. Logistic regression was implemented to analyze cases of Indigenous (n = 471) versus non-Indigenous suicides (n = 6,655), using the Queensland Suicide Register as a data source. Compared to non-Indigenous suicides, Indigenous cases had lower odds of being diagnosed with unipolar depression, seeking treatment for psychiatric conditions or leaving a suicide note. Indigenous suicides had greater odds of verbally communicating suicide intent and having a history of alcohol and substance use. The magnitude of these differences is remarkable, underscoring the need for culturally sensitive suicide prevention efforts.     

Symbolic significance of initials on longevity

The longevities of deceased major league baseball players who died prior to 1950 (N=3835) and whose initials formed acronyms, words, or names with "positive" or "negative" affect, as rated a priori by two judges, were compared with those for a group of neutral controls matched for birth year and career length, using the Berkeley standardized mortality tables. Players (n=11) with positive initials, e.g., A.C.E., lived a mean of 13 years longer than players (n=30) with negative initials, e.g., D.E.D., or players with neutral initials (n=864). These results corroborated a previous study and suggest positive name symbols are associated with increased longevity in this sample.     

A relative age effect in men's but not women's professional baseball: 1943-1954

Birthdates of professional female and male baseball players active from 1943 to 1954 (the beginning and final years for professional female leagues) were matched for year of birth and league years and then compared by birth quarters, with a cutoff date beginning August 1. A relative age effect was noted for males, as there was a significantly different distribution of players across birth quarter, but there was no such effect for female professionals. Since players were matched for birth year and league play, the difference was unlikely to be due to seasonality differences in birth. Instead, the absence of a "relative age" effect for female players can be attributed to the absence of organized adolescent baseball for girls prior to the establishment of professional baseball leagues for women.     

Marital Discord and Suicidal Outcomes in a National Sample of Married Individuals

Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States, with an average of 105 suicides committed daily. The association between marital discord and 12‐month prevalence of suicidal ideation and suicide attempt was studied in a population‐based sample of married adults (N = 1,384). Marital discord was significantly and positively associated with suicidal ideation and suicide attempt, and these associations remained significant when controlling for demographics and 12‐month prevalence of mood, anxiety, and substance use disorders. Results suggest that marital discord is an important correlate of suicidal outcomes and may be important to target in preventing and treating suicide.     

Revisiting the association of aggression and suicidal behavior in schizophrenic inpatients

Our study investigated the association of aggression and suicidal behavior in schizophrenic inpatients. Eight thousand nine hundred one admissions for schizophrenia (1998-2007) to a psychiatric university hospital were included. Schizophrenic suicides (n = 7)/suicide attempters (n = 40) were compared to suicides (n = 30)/suicide attempters (n = 186) with other diagnoses and to schizophrenic non-attempters regarding aggression. Logistic regression analysis was performed to explore risk factors for attempted suicide. Schizophrenic suicides/suicide attempters did not differ from other suicides/suicide attempters or from schizophrenic non-attempters with regard to aggression. Risk of inpatient suicide attempt was increased for patients with attempted suicide at admission, high school graduation, and disorganized subtype. Aggression could not be found to be a predictor of attempted suicide. Aggression seems to have a minor role for suicidal behavior in schizophrenia.     

Lefties are still a little shorter

Heights and weights of right- and left-handed major league baseball pitchers (N=5780) were analyzed, adjusted for birth year. Right-handed pitchers were about 1.6 cm taller and 1.9 kg heavier than left-handed pitchers. The results corroborated other studies and suggest body size is related to handedness, although the average difference in height between right- and left-handed pitchers was very small.     

An Integrative Suicide Prevention Program for Visitor Charcoal Burning Suicide and Suicide Pact

An integrative suicide prevention program was implemented to tackle an outbreak of visitor charcoal burning suicides in Cheung Chau, an island in Hong Kong, in 2002. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the program. The numbers of visitor suicides reduced from 37 deaths in the 51 months prior to program implementation to 6 deaths in the 42 months post‐implementation period. The number of visitor suicide pacts decreased from 7 pacts (15 individuals) to 1 pact (2 individuals). No statistically significant differences in the numbers of visitor suicide attempts and resident suicides were observed in the two time periods. No statistically significant changes in visitor suicides during the study period were observed on the comparison islands. The consistency and timing of reduction in visitor suicides correlated with the development and delivery of the integrative program on the intervention island, suggesting a causal association between program delivery and reduction of visitor suicides. The possibility of displacement seems small because there was no increase in visitor suicides on the comparison islands during the study period. This integrative approach in preventing target‐specific suicides may serve as an example for other communities to develop suicide prevention programs that make use of the existing local resources.     

A cognitive-behavioural analysis of mental toughness in national rugby league football teams

This study examined the relations between demographic characteristics of rugby players and selected aspects of psychological performance in rugby league football. Mental toughness was assessed using Psychological Performance Inventory and Hardiness on the Personal Views Survey III-R. Participants (N=70) were international rugby league footballers representing four teams (Wales, France, Ireland, England) in the 2000 Rugby League World Cup. Participants completed the questionnaires in training camp. Welsh-nationality players had a significantly higher mean score on two of the hardiness subscales. Hardiness measures displayed the greatest and most frequently statistically significant differences. The findings concur with previous work indicating superior hardiness is related to improved performance in sports.     

The "birthday blues" in a sample of major league baseball players' suicides

Among 74 major league baseball players known to have committed suicide, 17 occurred within 28 days of the players' birthdays as compared to an expected number of 11.4.     

The epidemiology of suicide and attempted suicide

Since more than one century suicides have been registered in national statistics of death causes. They thus furnish one of the few parameters of psychiatrically relevant behaviour by means of which trends, cohort, age-group and period effects can be studied over longer periods. Since the second half of last century, the suicide rates for Swiss males--similar to those found in England and Wales--show a decrease in consecutive birth cohorts up to males born in the decade 1930-1940, and a continued decline in the total trend until about World War II. From then on the suicide rates of males in consecutive birth cohorts have been slowly increasing in the majority of European and North American countries--but not so in Sweden. Opposite to this, the predominantly low rates for females display little change. Further to the considerable differences between nations and the predominance of suicides committed by females in some Asian countries and Cuba, the changes indicate the significance of cultural and economic environmental factors. Typical period effects are mainly the result of changes in conception and conditions of life. In attempted suicide they proceed in a more sensitive and more rapid way and are about ten times higher. Such a period effect showing increases by about 300% in younger age-groups followed by a decline, attaining its peak about 1976, was ascertained in large cities of the Federal Republic of Germany. By the example of the effects of a television serial, the study of causal processes turning collective environmental factors into individual suicidal behaviour, proved that regularities are effective in learning by a process of modelling. Besides, the epidemiological data give essential hints how to treat suicidal behaviour.     

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.     

Suicides among family members of elderly suicide victims: an exploratory study

This exploratory study compares elderly suicides with (n=13) and without (n=72) family member suicide. Previous episodes of suicidal behavior were more common among suicides who lost first-degree relatives by suicide (100% vs. 65%, p = .009). Six persons had lost an offspring by suicide prior to their own deaths. Substance use disorder was more prevalent among those with offspring suicide than those without (100% vs. 25%, p = .000). While informants reported that offspring suicides played a central role in the suicide of the elderly study case, sibbling suicides were not considered precipitating factors.     

Suicide among adolescents and young adults: a cross-national comparison of 34 countries

Few cross-national reports have examined suicide rates among adolescents and young adults. A survey of suicides among 15-24-year-olds in 34 of the wealthiest nations demonstrated that 15,555 youths killed themselves in a 1-year study period. Thirty-four percent of these suicides were firearm-related. Finland led the participating nations in total and firearm-related suicide rates. An association was found between divorce rates and youth suicide rates, firearm-related suicide among youths, and suicide rates among young males. For a smaller sample of countries, an association was found between firearm availability and firearm-related suicide rates among youths and suicide rates among young males.     

Suicidal behavior in jails and prisons in The Netherlands: incidence, characteristics, and prevention

In most countries, the incidence of suicidal behavior in correctional institutions is higher than in the population at large. In the current study, information was processed on 44 completed suicides (that occurred during the period 1973-1984) and on 198 attempted suicides (1980-1984) by jail and prison inmates in The Netherlands. Demographic, legal, and medical data for victims were compared to similar data for nonsuicidal inmates. Twenty-five inmates who had recently attempted suicide were interviewed, as well as 26 correctional officers and staff members. The majority of suicide completers died by hanging; most attempted suicides were performed impulsively by cutting wrists. Suicidal crises often occurred during the first period of confinement. Inmates born outside The Netherlands and long-term prisoners were high-risk groups. The incarceration of alcohol and/or drug abusers was a complicating issue. Correctional officers and prison staff often viewed suicide attempts as manipulative gestures, although this only partially reflected inmates' true intentions. Several preventive measures are discussed, with special consideration of the identification of suicide risk.     

Estimation of suicide risk by the use of clinical models

This report details some preliminary experience in the use of clinical models to develop scales for the estimation of suicide risk. A cohort was drawn for each of two models: Stable with Forced Change (N = 333) and Alienated (N = 566). A set of postulated discriminators regarding suicide was examined with negative results. Available data revealed 12 items for the Stable with Forced Change model and 20 items for the Alienated model that discriminated between the suicides and the nonsuicides at a .05 level of confidence. That only 4 items were common to both supports the idea that the models represent different populations in regard to vulnerability to suicide and thus require independent lethality scales.     

The Frequency of Suicide in Individual Danish Birth Cohorts, 1922–1991

In recent years many suicidologists have based their epidemiological studies on suicide on theories assuming that people born within the same period of time will follow the same suicidal patterns throughout their lives, and that variations in the annual rate of suicide will, therefore, reflect systematic differences between cohorts. Cohort analysis carried out on Danish data showed, however, that although some differences could be found as to the course of events during the life span of the cohorts and also when the material was adjusted for sex, no significant differences could be found between various birth cohorts in the total rates of suicide. The authors argue that the reason for this is that a cohort effect is only one of three dimensions of an analytical tool, namely, Age–Period–Cohort (APC) analysis, and that the balance between the three effects changes over time.     

Prevalence and Risk Factors Associated With Suicides of Army Soldiers 2001–2009

Prevalence and risk factors associated with soldiers' suicides 2001–2009 (N = 874) were examined. Army suicide rates increased from 9 per 100,000 in 2001 to 22 per 100,000 in 2009. Soldier suicides were lower than civilians from 2001 to 2007, but higher than civilians after 2007. Army suicides were disproportionately higher for men, deployment experience, and a history of a mental health diagnosis/treatment; and lower for African Americans. Many involved planning (38%), communication (21%), alcohol (19%), or drugs (8%). Many had legal problems (31%), high stress loads (90%), a history of self-injury (10%), and other contributing factors prior to entry into the Army (31%). Implications for understanding suicide among military personnel are discussed.     

What Does Psychological Autopsy Study Tell Us About Charcoal Burning Suicide—A New and Contagious Method in Asia?

Charcoal burning suicides in Hong Kong between 2002–2004 in the 15 to 59‐year‐old age group were investigated using the psychological autopsy method. The psychopathological profiles of charcoal burning suicides (N = 53) were compared against “other suicides” (N = 97). The two groups did not differ significantly in the prevalence of DSM‐IV axis I diagnoses with the exception of schizophrenic spectrum disorder which was less frequently associated with charcoal burning suicides. Score on “neuroticism” in the NEO‐five Factor Inventory (NEO‐FFI) was significantly higher in victims of charcoal burning suicide. There was also a trend toward higher score on “conscientiousness” in the NEO‐FFI among charcoal burners than victims of other suicide.