Alaska Native Suicide: Lessons for Elder Suicide

1998 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Kettl
Keyword(s):  
Alaska Native ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Oil Boom ◽  
Suicide Rates ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
Elderly Suicide ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Cultural Upheaval

Suicide rates in Alaska Native elders are studied to further explore cultural factors in elderly suicide. Data for the 1960s and 1970s are reviewed, and new data on Alaska Native suicide rates are presented for the 10-year period of 1985 through 1994. In many areas throughout the world, suicide rates are highest for the elderly. During the Alaska “oil boom,” suicide rates more than tripled for the general population but decreased to zero for Alaska Native elders. Cultural teachings from the society's elders were more important during this time of cultural upheaval. During the study period, the cultural changes dissipated, and suicide rates for Alaska Native elders, although lower than those of White Alaskans, increased. This provides further evidence that suicide rates for elders can by influenced by social factors—both to raise and to lower rates.

scholarly journals The relationship between elderly suicide rates, population density and room density

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 1197-1198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajit Shah ◽  
Tanuja Sinha ◽  
Rajeswari Makena
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Elderly Person ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Household Size ◽  
National Study ◽  
Geographical Proximity ◽  
Suicide Rates ◽  
Elderly Suicide ◽  
Extended Households ◽  
Suicidal Plans

A recent cross-national study reported that elderly suicide rates in both sexes were significantly negatively correlated with household size and the percentage of extended households and positively correlated with the percentage of single-person households (Shah, 2009). Speculative explanations for these findings were based on cultural factors, including (i) a mismatch between the traditional dependence of elderly relatives on their children for emotional and financial support and their children's ability to provide this support (Yip et al., 1998, 2000; Liu et al., 2006); (ii) the unmet traditional expectation of the elderly person being able to live with their children or grandchildren (Yip et al., 2000; Liu et al., 2006); (iii) the effect on the elderly of their children's negative attitudes (Yip et al., 2000); (iv) the migration of children to urban areas or to other countries (Yip and Tan, 1998; Yip et al., 2000); and, (v) the number of available caregivers, household size and family size (Kua et al., 2003). Countries with larger household sizes and a greater number of extended households potentially have a greater number of people available within the household and within close geographical proximity who can contribute positively to these cultural issues, and this may ultimately lead to a reduction in elderly suicide rates – the “emotional proximity” explanation. However, there may also be other explanations for these findings (Shah, 2009). Having more people in a household implies that there are more people to identify suicidal ideation and support the suicidal individual in seeking approprate help. Also, in larger households elderly people are likely to be alone for shorter periods of time, which would reduce the opportunity to implement any suicidal plans. Both these possibilities form part of the “geographical proximity” explanation.

Religious Non-Affiliation

2021 ◽  
pp. 172-193
Author(s):  
William V. Trollinger
Keyword(s):  
Republican Party ◽  
Christian Right ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Conservative Politics ◽  
The Past ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Political Success

For the past century, the bulk of white evangelicalism has been tightly linked to very conservative politics. But in response to social and cultural changes in the 1960s and 1970s, conservative white evangelicalism organized itself into the Christian Right, in the process attaching itself to and making itself indispensable to the Republican Party. While the Christian Right has enjoyed significant political success, its fusion of evangelicalism/Christianity with right-wing politics—which includes white nationalism, hostility to immigrants, unfettered capitalism, and intense homophobia—has driven many Americans (particularly, young Americans) to disaffiliate from religion altogether. In fact, the quantitative and qualitative evidence make it clear that the Christian Right has been a (perhaps the) primary reason for the remarkable rise of the religious “nones” in the past three decades. More than this, the Christian Right is, in itself, a sign of secularization.

The Impact of Trends in Psychotropic Prescribing on the Method of Suicide in the Elderly

2005 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajit Shah ◽  
Lubbaba Lodhi
Keyword(s):  
Psychotropic Drugs ◽  
Serotonin Reuptake ◽  
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors ◽  
Prescribing Patterns ◽  
Selective Serotonin ◽  
Hypnotics And Sedatives ◽  
Suicide Rates ◽  
Elderly Suicide

Suicide rates in the elderly have declined in many countries in recent years. This decline has been reported to be associated with increased prescribing of antidepressants, particularly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), antipsychotics and antimanic drugs and reduced prescribing of barbiturates, hypnotics and sedatives. This study examined the relationship between prescribing patterns of individual psychotropic drugs and suicide rates by specific methods of elderly suicides. There was a negative correlation between the prescription of tricyclic antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, antipsychotics, antimanic drugs and non-opiate analgesics and a decline in elderly suicide rates due to poisoning by solid and liquid substances, hanging, strangulation and suffocation, drowning, firearms and explosives, and jumping from high places. There was a positive correlation between the prescription of barbiturates, hypnotics and sedatives and elderly suicide rates due to poisoning by solid and liquid substances, hanging, strangulation and suffocation, drowning, firearms and explosives, and jumping from high places. This study demonstrated that changes in prescribing patterns of individual psychotropic drugs do influence elderly suicide rates of the commonly used methods of suicide and suggest that this may be due to more accurate diagnostic-specific prescribing of psychotropic drugs.

Influencing Suicide Rates among the Elderly

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 757-790
Author(s):  
Angela Louise C. Rosario
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Prevention Policies ◽  
Suicide Rates ◽  
The Status ◽  
Scaling Down ◽  
Elderly Suicide

Abstract By focusing on the elderly suicide rates, this study lays out the different suicide regulation and prevention policies of three developed countries – Japan, the Netherlands, and South Korea. The main goal is to compare and analyze how these policies, with disparate ways of handling suicide, influence elderly suicide rates in relation with their countries’ respective differing suicide determinants. By applying the ‘Method for Synthesizing about Public Policies’ created by Morestin, Gauvin, Hogue, and Benoit to check the status of efficiency and of any issues of public policies, it concludes that South Korea shows promise, while Japan’s suicide rates have certainly been scaling down. Conversely, in terms of the use of euthanasia, suicide rates in the Netherlands have been continuously rising.

scholarly journals A replication of a non-linear association of educational attainment and suicide rates among the elderly using five-year data

2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 339-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajit Shah
Keyword(s):  
Educational Attainment ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
National Study ◽  
Curvilinear Relationship ◽  
Suicide Rates ◽  
Elderly Suicide ◽  
One Year ◽  
Cross National Study ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Cross National

A recent cross-national study demonstrated that the relationship between elderly suicide rates and educational attainment is curvilinear (U-shaped curve) (Shah and Chatterjee, 2008). That study used only one-year data on suicide rates for the latest available year. These findings may have been spurious as suicide rates can randomly fluctuate year on year (Shah and Coupe, 2009). Therefore, this curvilinear relationship was examined using a one-year average of five-year data on elderly suicide rates to establish the accuracy of the earlier findings.

Social inclusion affects elderly suicide mortality

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (8) ◽  
pp. 1337-1343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andriy Yur`yev ◽  
Lauri Leppik ◽  
Liina-Mai Tooding ◽  
Merike Sisask ◽  
Peeter Värnik ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Suicide Mortality ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Suicide Rates ◽  
Market Exit ◽  
Economic Contribution ◽  
Western European ◽  
Elderly Suicide

ABSTRACTBackground: National attitudes towards the elderly and their association with elderly suicide mortality in 26 European countries were assessed, and Eastern and Western European countries compared.Methods: For each country, mean age-adjusted, gender-specific elderly suicide rates in the last five years for which data had been available were obtained from the WHO European Mortality Database. Questions about citizens’ attitudes towards the elderly were taken from the European Social Survey. Correlations between attitudes and suicide rates were analyzed using Pearson's test. Differences between mean scores for Western and Eastern European attitudes were calculated, and data on labor-market exit ages were obtained from the EUROSTAT database.Results: Perception of the elderly as having higher status, recognition of their economic contribution and higher moral standards, and friendly feelings towards and admiration of them are inversely correlated with suicide mortality. Suicide rates are lower in countries where the elderly live with their families more often. Elderly suicide mortality and labor-market exit age are inversely correlated. In Eastern European countries, elderly people's status and economic contribution are seen as less important. Western Europeans regard the elderly with more admiration, consider them more friendly and more often have elderly relatives in the family. The data also show gender differences.Conclusions: Society's attitudes influence elderly suicide mortality; attitudes towards the elderly are more favorable among Western European citizens; and extended labor-market inclusion of the elderly is a suicide-protective factor.

A preliminary cross-national study of a possible relationship between elderly suicide rates and tuberculosis

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 1190-1195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajit Shah
Keyword(s):  
The Elderly ◽  
World Health ◽  
National Study ◽  
Elderly Age ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Suicide Rates ◽  
Elderly Suicide ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Cross National Study ◽  
Cross National

ABSTRACTBackground: The elderly are at high risk of developing tuberculosis. The prevalence and incidence of depression and anxiety are higher in those with tuberculosis than in the general population. A positive correlation between national suicide rates and rates of mortality due to tuberculosis has been reported.Methods: The relationships between elderly suicide rates and (i) the prevalence of tuberculosis, (ii) the proportion of detected cases of tuberculosis, and (iii) the proportion of cured cases of tuberculosis were examined in a cross-national study using data from the World Health Organization and the United Nations.Results: There were no significant correlations between elderly suicide rates and the prevalence of tuberculosis and the proportion of detected cases of tuberculosis. There were weak but significant negative correlations between the proportion of cured cases of tuberculosis and suicide rates for both sexes in both elderly age-bands.Conclusion: Caution should be exercised in interpreting the findings and the direction of the causal relationship from this cross-sectional ecological study because of ecological fallacy. However, if the findings are true then potentially the study has important implications for prevention of elderly suicides, particularly in countries with a high prevalence of tuberculosis.

Ethnicity and Elderly Suicide in Singapore

1995 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soo Meng Ko ◽  
Ee Heok Kua
Keyword(s):  
General Population ◽  
Elderly People ◽  
Suicide Rate ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Sociocultural Factors ◽  
Suicide Rates ◽  
Younger Age ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Elderly Suicide

In the cosmopolitan city of Singapore the annual suicide rates in the general population from 1985 to 1991 remained fairly constant, with a mean of 15.3 per 100,000. It was highest among Indians (19.5 per 100,000), followed by Chinese (16.2 per 100,000) and Malays (2.3 per 100,000). The suicide rates were higher in elderly people (aged 65 years and over) than in younger age groups (10 to 64 years) and in males than in females. For the elderly, the mean annual suicide rate for this period was 52.0 per 100,000. However, it was highest among Chinese, with 59.3 per 100,000, followed by Indians at 33.9 per 100,000, and, again, lowest among Malays, with 3.0 per 100,000. Possible sociocultural factors are proposed to account for differences in suicide rates among these ethnic groups.

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