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Death by suicide among Black people in the USA have increased by 35.6% within the past decade. Among youth under the age of 24 years old, death by suicide among Black youth have risen substantially. Researchers have found that structural inequities (e.g. educational attainment) and state-specific variables (e.g. minimum wage, incarceration rates) may increase risk for suicide among Black people compared to White people in the USA. Given the limited understanding of how such factors systematically affect Black and White communities differently, this paper aims to examine these relationships across US states using publicly available data from 2015 to 2019.

Data were aggregated from various national sources including the National Center for Education Statistics, the Department of Labor, the FBI’s Crime in the US Reports and the Census Bureau. Four generalized estimating equations (GEE) models were used to examine the impact of state-level variables on suicide rates: Black adults suicide rate, Black youth (24 years and younger) suicide rate, White adult suicide rate and White youth suicide rate. Each model includes state-level hate group rates, minimum wage, violent crime rates, gross vacancy rates, and race-specific state-level poverty rates, incarceration rates and graduation rates.

Across all GEE models, suicide rates rose between 2015–2019 (ß = 1.11 – 2.78; ß = 0.91 – 1.82; ß = 0.52 – 3.09; ß = 0.16 – 1.53). For the Black adult suicide rate, state rates increased as the proportion of Black incarceration rose (ß = 1.14) but fell as the gross housing vacancy rates increased (ß = −1.52). Among Black youth, state suicide rates rose as Black incarcerations increased (ß = 0.93). For the adult White suicide rate, state rates increased as White incarceration (ß = 1.05) and percent uninsured increased (ß = 1.83), but fell as White graduation rates increased (ß = −2.36). Finally, among White youth, state suicide rates increased as the White incarceration rate rose (ß = 0.55) and as the violent crime rate rose (ß = 0.55) but decreased as state minimum wages (ß = −0.61), White poverty rates (ß = −0.40) and graduation rates increased (ß = −0.97).

This work underscores how structural factors are associated with suicide rates, and how such factors differentially impact White and Black communities.

The purpose of this paper is to calculate the rate of suicide in different religious groups in people of South Asian origin in the UK.

A cross-sectional, secondary analysis of a national data set. A name recognition algorithm was used to identify people of South Asian origin and their religion. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated using this data and data from the national census. Setting: a population study of all those who died by suicide in England and Wales in 2001. Participants: all cases of suicide and undetermined intent identified by the Office for National Statistics for England and Wales.

There were 4,848 suicides in the UK in 2001 of which 125 (2.6 percent) were identified as people of South Asian origin by the algorithm. The suicide rate for all people of South Asian origin was 5.50/100,000 compared to 9.31/100,000 for the population of England and Wales. The age SMR for those whose names were of Hindu, Muslim or Sikh origin were 0.88, 0.47 and 0.85, respectively. Female South Asians have lower rates of suicide, than their South Asian male counterparts.

Religious classification by the computerized program does not guarantee religious affiliation. The data set were confined to one year because religion was not collected prior to the 2001 census.

The rates of suicide for South Asian sub-populations in the UK differ by gender and religion.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the increase in suicide rates for Kansas residents, as well as quantify the difference in suicide rates between men and women across the State of Kansas.

To evaluate increases in suicide rates, a joinpoint regression analysis was conducted to calculate the annual percentage change in suicide rates. To evaluate differences between sex characteristics, a one-way analysis of variance was conducted.

Results of a joinpoint regression analysis found that the annual percentage change in the suicide rates of Kansas did increase significantly between 2009 and 2018. Furthermore, the rate of suicide increase among women was greater than the suicide rate increases of men.

The value of this study provides context to the suicide literature that could allow for better local and statewide policy decisions.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between suicide rates broken down by gender and socio-economic factors in the Slovak Republic.

This paper uses panel data of 79 counties of the Slovak Republic for the period 1997–2019. Methodology used includes fixed effects regression and sensitivity analysis. Also, regressions with lagged variables are used.

The results show that per capita income and unemployment rate are associated with increased risk of suicide rates for both genders. Economic growth is negatively correlated and significant only for women. Women’s participation in the labor market does not have a significant impact. Social factors, such as divorce and fertility rate, have a significant effect on men but insignificant on women. Strong faith is associated with increasing men’s suicide rates. Sensitivity analysis confirmed the results. This paper also examined the possibility of cumulation of the effects by using lagged variables. Unemployment rate has a significant effect only in the simultaneous year and for men only. Per capita income and economic growth have insignificant impact for both the genders. Divorce rate has a significant positive relationship for men, if measured in the previous year. The fertility rate is negatively correlated with the suicide rate of women up to two years after the birth. Higher participation of women in the labor market has a positive relationship with men’s suicides in the simultaneous year.

Few limitations of this paper need to be stated. First, the data are not balanced, as data for some districts and years are missing. Also, it is possible to collect data only for a maximum period of 29 years (as the Slovak Republic exists only from year 1993). Moreover, important variables in suicide research, like alcohol consumption or drug use, are not collected on the district level. Therefore, poor data availability is putting barriers to research of this area in the Slovak Republic. Second, there is a lack of previous studies in the Slovak Republic. According to the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to deal with issue of suicides and socio-economic factors in the Slovak Republic; therefore, some important factors of the Slovak Republic influencing the results of this paper may be missed. Third, limitations in the methodological approach might influence the paper. The lagged-variables approach might require further methodological improvements and research like implementing a structural regression model.

According to knowledge of the authors, this relationship has not yet been examined in Slovakia. This provided space for this paper. According to the information presented in this paper, it is important to take individual economic and social circumstances into account when developing suicide prevention programs. The results of this paper may lead to useful guidelines for health policymakers, but addressing this issue certainly requires further research.

An important question about the determinants of suicide refers to the role of media. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to investigate if there are groups of people who are susceptible to suicide as a result of the effect of media.

Using data for the 27 Brazilian states, for the period 1980-2009, to investigate the impact of the media index, unemployment rate, divorce rate and other explanatory variables on the rate of suicide by gender and age. First of all, the authors estimated a model of fixed effects panel. The second estimation method makes use of dynamic panel data with instrumental variables. Each of the results generated by these two estimated models is compared with those obtained by ordinary least squares in stacked data. The authors develop a model about the suicide epidemic where the media works as a contagion effect to disseminate suicidal behavior.

The authors observe that, the media index is the third motivator of suicide, after unemployment and violence, for all groups of people. The estimated model shows that 1 percent increase in media index increases suicide rate of young men (aged between 15 and 29 years) at 4.22 percent.

The empirical results are limited because the authors developed a media index based on quantities of televisions and radios. The authors suggest other research include social media in the index as well.

This result seems to suggest a type of contagion effect on suicide rates, which reinforces the results obtained by Cutler et al. (2001).

In this study of 420 self‐inflicted deaths in prisons a number of themes emerge. First, important definitional issues in the study of suicide. Second, the observation of the inverse relationship between risk of suicide and time spent at the individual prison institution. Third, that significant age group differences in suicide rates are not distinguishable in prison. Fourth, that factors associated with an increased or decreased risk of suicide are often dynamic at a societal, institutional and individual level.

Recent research claims that the major part of the observed reduction in suicide rates during the 1990s can be explained by the increase in the prescription of antidepressants. However, this conclusion is based on research that only looks at raw correlations; confounding effects from other variables are not controlled for. Using a rich Swedish data set, we reinvestigate the issue. After controlling for other covariates, observed as well as unobserved, that might affect the suicide rate, we find, overall, no statistically significant effects from antidepressants on the suicide rate; when we do get significant effects, they are positive for young persons. Regarding the latter result, more research is needed before any firm policy conclusion can be made.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of law enforcement suicide research from 1997 to 2016.

The PRISMA systematic review methodology was implemented. A SCOPUS search identified a total of 97 documents. After applying all exclusion criteria, the results included a list of 44 articles in the review.

Overall, studies investigating law enforcement suicide rates show conflicting results, with some studies showing lower suicide rates among law enforcement, some showing higher rates, and some showing no difference to comparison populations. Recurring research themes were lack of an appropriate comparison group, and small statistical power, particularly for minority and female officers. Stressors related to suicide among police included lack of organizational support, traumatic events, shift work, stigma associated with asking for help, or problems associated with fitting in with the police culture. Problems associated with domestic relationships and alcohol use were commonly mentioned as precursors to suicide or as correlates of suicidal ideation and were hypothesized to arise from stressful working conditions.

Some limitations in law enforcement suicide research include the lack of theory, under-reporting of suicides, and guarded survey responses from police officers. Future directions in police suicide research include investigating etiological factors such as past adverse life and family experiences, social-ecological variation in suicide, or differences in suicide rates within the law enforcement occupation.

Police work, given chronic and traumatic stress, lack of support, danger, and close public scrutiny is a fertile occupation for increased suicide risk. Awareness of the scope of the problem and associated risk factors can help to initiate prevention programs.

This paper provides a long-term review of literature regarding police suicidality, with suggestions for research and prevention.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between changes in the business cycle (as indicated by the incidence and duration of unemployment) and the incidence of suicide.

A theoretical utility model with savings and consumption is used, while time series micro‐level suicide data and probit analysis is used to empirically test the implications of the model.

With declining economic activity and the corresponding increase in unemployment the propensity to commit suicide rises among men for numerable reasons. The authors hypothesize that there is a negative impact with respect to the decline in economic activity and as the intensity increases with respect to the declining business cycle, female's suicides will tend to accelerate.

One of the primary limitations of this study is the amount of control variables to which the authors had access. There are many factors that would influence an individual when determining whether or not to take their own life. Religious convictions, the presence of children, income, educational attainment, occupational attainment, pre‐unemployment income, and how long one had been married or divorced (or unmarried) are all variables that could influence the likelihood of a suicide. The center of disease control (CDC) public use files, however, do not include these variables; thus, the authors were unable to control for their impact.

The authors believe that these findings merit greater public awareness and increases in various forms of public and private support for recently unemployed individuals, being particularly attentive to the effect of higher than normal rates and durations of unemployment and the differences based on gender. These findings also establish another sound rationale for public policies to encourage the increase of personal savings during times of employment to make weathering periods of unemployment easier.

In times of increased incidence and duration of unemployment, the tendency of legislators and other public policy makers presumably would be to establish programs targeted to address the population with the highest rates of unemployment‐related suicide – White males. It can be argued, however, that since the increased incidence and duration of unemployment have a greater effect on increasing the rate of suicide in women, public policies and programs targeting the specific needs and issues of those unemployed women with an increased risk of suicide would be more cost‐effective, preventing or reducing those incremental suicides and mitigating their negative economic, social, and familial impacts.

Previous studies used descriptive statistics, contingency tables, and the traditional statistical regression techniques in their empirical analysis; this study deviates from the norm by the use of probit analysis. Using the probit technique allowed the authors to focus their analysis on the probabilities of suicide with regard not just to the business cycle itself but also to the intensity of the business cycle.

This paper analyses the economic determinants of suicide. More specifically, we test the hypothesis that suicide is related to shocks or news concerning income growth. Testing is based on an error correction model of suicide in which the long‐run part takes into account various demographic and structural variables. Empirical analysis is based on Finnish time series data covering the period 1878‐1994. Some cross‐country data are also used. The empirical results strongly support the “natural rate” hypothesis.