Suicide

U.S. data on completed suicides by sex, age, race, marital status, and method are based on vital statistics information gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, with each state reporting from death certificates. From this data source we know that increased age among persons sixty-five and older is associated with higher rates of suicide. Also, older adults as a group are more likely to use a firearm as a suicide method compared to the total U.S. rate; 70 versus 60 percent. In terms of demographic correlates of suicide deaths, male sex, white race, older age, and unmarried status are associated with higher rates of suicide.

Older suicide victims are more likely to have lived alone than younger suicides. However, older adults are also likely to be those members of the population who live alone, so the potency of living arrangement as a risk factor for suicide is not clear. A correlate associated with living arrangement is marital status. The suicide rate for unmarried older adults is higher than the suicide rate for married older adults. For older men, the suicide rate for those who are divorced or widowed is much higher when compared with older females or with their married counterparts (Buda and Tsuang).