Suicide mortality and marital status for specific ages, genders, and education levels in South Korea: Using a virtually individualized dataset from national aggregate data

Abstract

BackgroundPrevious studies in Eastern as well as Western countries have shown a relationship between marital status and suicide mortality. However, to date, no Korean study has calculated national suicide rates by marital status for specific genders, ages, and education levels. This study investigated whether the relationship between marital status and suicide differs by age, gender, and educational attainment, and analyzed the effect of marital status on suicide risk after controlling for these socio-demographic variables. MethodsUsing national mortality data from 2015, and aggregated census data from 2010 in South Korea, we created a virtually individualized dataset with multiple weighting algorithms, including individual socio-demographic characteristics and suicide rates across the entire population. ResultsThe findings show that the following groups faced the highest relative suicide risks: 1) divorced men of all ages and men aged more than 75 years, particularly divorced men aged more than 75; and 2) never-married men aged 55–64 years, and never-married women of lower education status. LimitationsWe did not account for important variables such as mental health, substance abuse, employment insecurity, social integration, perceived loneness, and family income which we were unable to access. ConclusionsThis current research extends prior theoretical and methodological work on suicide, aiding efforts to reduce suicide mortality in South Korea.