The female suicide victim. Trends in a metropolitan county (1963-1983).

A two-decade review of female suicide victims in Cuyahoga County, Ohio was performed. There has been an increasing incidence in the number of adolescent and senior citizen suicides over the 20-year period. The number of single and married victims were proportional to their respective population frequencies; while the frequency of widowed victims was greater and the frequency of divorced victims was less than expected. Women in blue collar skilled jobs showed an increasing frequency in the late 1970s. The most frequently used methods are poisoning, firearms, and carbon monoxide inhalation. Poisoning deaths have decreased in frequency and firearm deaths have increased in frequency.