The relationship between elderly suicide rates and the human development index: a cross-national study of secondary data from the World Health Organization and the United Nations.

BACKGROUND

Elderly suicides rates are associated with socio-economic status and life expectancy. Although suicide rates in younger people are associated with both higher and lower levels of educational attainment, little is known about this association in the elderly.

METHOD

The relationship between Human Development Index (HDI)--a composite index measuring average achievements on three basic dimensions of human development (life expectancy, educational attainment and socio-economic status)--and elderly suicide rates was examined in a cross-national study utilizing secondary data from the World Health Organization and the United Nations.

RESULTS

There was a significant curvilinear (inverted U-shaped curve) relationship between elderly suicide rates in males and the HDI, fitting the quadratic equation y = a + bx - cx2. A similar curvilinear relationship was observed in females, but the significance level only approached 0.05.

CONCLUSIONS

A model with four sequential stages was proposed to explain the findings: (i) low elderly suicide rate--low human development society; (ii) high elderly suicide rate--low human development society; (iii) high elderly suicide rate--high human development society; and (iv) low elderly suicide rate--high human development society.