Age Patterns of Suicide and Homicide Mortality Rates in High-Income Nations

Abstract

In most nations, suicide rates tend to increase and homicide victimization rates tend to decrease with age, but the degree of increase and decrease varies over time and across nations. In particular, some nations more than others show a worsening of youth lethal violence relative to older age groups. This age variation across nations and time in both forms of lethal violence may result from (1) the sizes of youth and elderly age groups, and the disadvantages and advantages, respectively, that size brings; (2) family changes that most harm younger, more recent cohorts; and (3) sociopolitical dimensions of equality that smooth the transition to adulthood. Using aggregate data on 18 nations over the period from 1955 to 1994, the analysis examines how these determinants affect measures of suicide and homicide rates among the young relative to older ages. In support of the theoretical arguments, the results show that deviations from the general increase in suicide with age and decrease in homicide with age relate as predicted to measures of demographic, family, and sociopolitical institutions.