[Social conditions of suicides in Austria. An overview on risk and protective factors].

Referring to the 'biopsychosocial' model of health first, the article deals with the relevance of social factors in letal suicidality, giving an overview upon recent research findings specific for the Austrian society. In the beginning, the sociodemographic 'basic variables' of gender, age, marital status, partnership and parenthood are treated: Older men must be seen as a high risk population for suicide here, and married persons still have the lowest relative suicide risks. Regarding social status a study for the region of Styria shows an U-shaped-pattern, the highest suicide rates being situated at the lower end of the occupational prestige scale, amongst factory and unskilled workers, but also within the category of farmers, which is rather heterogeneous in terms of the economic status of its members. Moreover, people without occupation show much higher suicide rates-compared to those, who were economically active, the risk of committing suicide was more than five times higher in the years 2000-2004. After these topics, the suicide-protective consequences of the extension of the supply systems regarding medicine, psychiatry, psychotherapy and psychosocial support, taking place since the late twentieth century, are discussed. Likewise long-term changes in town-village-differences of suicide rates in the context of 'postmodernisation' and the theme of multiple psychosocial problem situations as triggers for suicide are addressed.