Clarke R V, Lester D
Department of Criminal Justice, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122.
J Epidemiol Community Health. 1987 Jun;41(2):114-20. doi: 10.1136/jech.41.2.114.
The rate of car exhaust suicides in the United States has declined following the introduction of emission controls in the mid-1960s, though not as much as the decline in CO emitted by cars. In Britain, where emission controls have not been introduced, the rate of these suicides, initially much lower than in the United States, has greatly increased since the beginning of the 1970s and is now about double that of the United States. This rise cannot be explained simply on the basis of an increase in the opportunities for suicide as represented by an increase in the number of cars but may be due to increased knowledge of the method. While these results are interpreted as generally supporting the potential for opportunity-reducing preventive measures, they also demonstrate that much more research is needed into the complex nature of the opportunity structure for suicide.
自20世纪60年代中期引入排放控制措施后，美国汽车尾气自杀率有所下降，不过降幅不及汽车一氧化碳排放量的下降幅度。在英国，由于尚未引入排放控制措施，此类自杀率起初远低于美国，但自20世纪70年代初以来大幅上升，如今约为美国的两倍。这种上升不能简单地归因于汽车数量增加所代表的自杀机会增多，而可能是由于对这种自杀方式的了解增多。虽然这些结果总体上被解释为支持减少机会的预防措施的潜力，但它们也表明，对于自杀机会结构的复杂性质，还需要进行更多研究。
