The age structure of female suicide rates: Measurement and analysis of 20 developed countries, 1955-1994

Although age-specific female suicide rates have been available for over a century, sociologists have focused on comparing the levels of the rates across age groups, and in studying change overtime. Girard's (1993) article is the first systematic effort to compare the age structure of female suicide rates among national populations. From his study of 1976-1980 suicide rates in 49 less developed and more developed populations, Girard concluded that the age structure of female suicide rates was a function of the level of economic development. Our partial test of this theory found that the age structure of female suicide in mid-19th-century European populations was not at all like the structures of less developed countries in 1976-80. We also replaced Girard's qualitative typology with the index of dissimilarity, allowing quantitative assessment of differences between the age structure of suicide in the United States and the other 19 countries in this study. Age structures in 14 countries were significantly different from the U.S. structure. Tests for significant changes in age structures from 1955-64 to 1985-94 found 17 of the 20 populations had significant change in this period, with younger persons tending to increase their share, while persons 45 to 74 were losing their share.