The effect of macroeconomic variables on suicide
The effect of macroeconomic variables on suicide
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DOI：
10.1017/s0033291705006665
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发表时间：
2006-02-01
影响因子：
6.9
通讯作者：
Henry, M
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Berk, M;Dodd, S;Henry, M
背景资料。影响自杀的因素很多。许多研究都在寻找经济困难和自杀之间的直接因果关系，然而，结果是不同的。从澳大利亚统计局获得了1968年1月至2002年8月期间的自杀数据。这些数据与一系列宏观经济数据相关，包括住房贷款利率、失业率、劳资纠纷损失天数、消费者物价指数、国内生产总值和消费者信心指数。在这段期间，共有51845名男性和16327名女性自杀。至少在一个年龄范围内，男女自杀率与11项宏观经济指标之间存在显著的相关性。数据被分为男性和女性，以及五个年龄范围和合并年龄。对这132个数据集进行了分析，得出了80个有意义的发现。衡量经济表现的指数的数据通常比衡量消费者对经济状况的看法的指数更强劲。男性和女性的趋势明显不同。一般来说，男性自杀率随着经济不景气的标志而上升，而女性的自杀率则相反。在年龄分层数据中，存在显著不同的模式，例如，较高的住房贷款利率与年轻人的自杀呈正相关，而在老年群体中与自杀呈负相关。宏观经济趋势与自杀密切相关。男性和女性的模式非常不同，而且还存在与年龄相关的更大差异。
Background. There are a large number of factors mediating suicide. Many studies have searched for a direct causal relationship between economic hardship and suicide, however, findings have been varied.Method. Suicide data was obtained from the Australian Bureau of Statistics for the period between January 1968 and August 2002. These were correlated with a suite of macroeconomic data including housing loan interest rates, unemployment rates, days lost to industrial disputes, Consumer Price Index, gross domestic product, and the Consumer Sentiment Index.Results. A total of 51845 males and 16 327 females committed suicide between these dates. There were significant associations between suicide rates and eleven macroeconomic indicators for both genders in at least one age range. Data was divided into male and female and five age ranges and pooled ages. Analyses were conducted on these 132 datasets resulting in 80 significant findings. The data was generally stronger for indices measuring economic performance than indices measuring consumers perceptions of the state of the economy. A striking difference between male and female trends was seen. Generally, male suicide rates increased with markers of economic adversity, while the opposite pattern was seen in females. There were significantly different patterns in age-stratified data, with for example higher housing loan interest rates having a positive association with suicide in younger people and a negative association in older age groups.Conclusion. Macroeconomic trends are significantly associated with suicide. The patterns in males and females are very different, and there are further substantial age-related differences.