A Century of Suicide in Italy: A Comparison between the Old and the Young

This study analyzes suicide rates from 1887 to 1993 in the Italian population between the ages of 15 and 24 years old and over 65 years of age, based on official data published in the Health Statistics Year Book. The rates of death by suicide (per 100,000) subjects) are calculated for each year and for 10-year periods, as are the mortality rates relative to each method of suicide, standardized by gender. The latter analysis was possible starting from 1951 only, when it became customary to record method. The findings indicate an increase in the suicide phenomenon in the elderly population in Italy over the test period. Rates are at least 3 times higher for men than for women. The highest rates are reported for elderly men, but there appears to have been a greater proportional increase in the number of suicides committed by elderly women. The rise was statistically significant in both males and females. By contrast, a rather constant decrease in suicide rates in young people emerges from the beginning of the century through to the present date. This decrease is more marked in females, although suicide rates are lower for females than for males. Over the study period, substantial changes have come about in the suicide methods used by both young and old people. There was an increase in poisoning by care exhaust fumes, jumping from heights, hanging, and firearms.     

The Opinions of GP's Patients About Suicide,Assisted Suicide,Euthanasia, and Suicide Prevention: An Italian Survey

A survey about opinions on end‐of‐life issues of a population represented by 1,171 people in the waiting room of general practitioners' surgeries was conducted in a province of northern Italy. Most subjects did not consider suicide as a reasonable option even in cases of a serious and incurable disease. Moreover, subjects did not consider euthanasia as a possible option either; however, they did express an opposite attitude when considering euthanasia in a third‐person perspective. People with a personal history of suicidal behavior appear to present as a different population, overall expressing more open attitudes.     

A Controlled Study of Suicide in Middle‐Aged and Older People: Personality Traits,Age, and Psychiatric Disorders

Personality traits were examined using the NEO Five‐Factor Inventory–Revised in an Australian psychological autopsy study involving 259 suicide deaths and 181 sudden death controls aged 35 years and over. Interviews included the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM‐IV to determine the presence of psychiatric disorder. Personality traits of suicide deaths differed significantly from those of controls, scoring higher in the Neuroticism and Openness to Experience domains and lower on the Agreeableness and Extraversion domains. These findings varied with the presence of psychiatric disorder and by age. High Neuroticism scores were the most consistent finding in people who died by suicide, although these scores decreased in older suicides.     

Long-Term Self-Regulation Moderates the Role of Internal Resources for Resilience in Positive Youth Development in Portugal

Abstract

Positive Youth Development (PYD) presents a strength-based conception of transition to adulthood that has been well-supported by literature to date. However, research is needed to integrate the pathways to PYD and the possible moderators. This study aimed to analyze the relationships between internal resources for resilience and PYD and to examine the moderating role of short-term and long-term self-regulation by gender. To reach this overall aim, a cross-sectional study was performed with a national sample of 2700 youths (73.3% girls; M_age = 21.3, SD?=?2.79) from Portugal, who completed self-report measures. Regression-based moderation models were developed. Results indicated that greater presence of internal resources for resilience was related to higher PYD. Long-term self-regulation and gender moderated this relationship, such that a greater effect was observed in men with high levels of long-term self-regulation. These results highlight the need to integrate prevention and promotion paradigms to foster healthy development in youth, as well as the importance of taking self-regulation skills and gender into account in program design.     

The use of group history as a therapeutic tool in the treatment of the severely mentally disabled

This paper deals with the integration of individual, group, milieu,behavioral therapy and pharmacotherapy. Group history is a record of the episodes or events in a therapeutic group culture. The group history is used as a confrontational screen in the treatment of individuals with fragile ego structures because it maintains focus on the here-and-now, preventing disclosure of painful material from the personal history of each group member. This technique increases the participants' awareness of their own interactions, their repetitive patterns of behavior as well as their assets and vulnerabilities. Therapeutic change is obtained through the medium of constructive feedback provided by both the members and therapists.     

Ego depletion in consumer behavior: A review,synthesis, and research agenda

This research aims to identify, analyze, and map the intellectual structure of the topic of ego depletion in consumer behavior through the bibliometric strategies of namely co-citation analysis and bibliographic coupling. We performed the co-citation analysis covering 20 years of research, divided into two 10-year analyses. The bibliographic coupling analysis focused on recent research covering the last decade, divided into two five-year analyses. The results presented the most important research, authors, research centers, and journals on the topic, as well as the factors derived from the co-citation and bibliographic coupling analysis, the evolution of the theme between the analysis and subsequent periods, and the agenda for future research. The main contribution of this article is the proposition of an agenda for future research on ego depletion and its effects on consumer behavior.