Year: 2006 Source: Evaluation and Program Planning, v.29, no.4, (November 2006), p.377-385 SIEC No: 20090834

This study sought to develop a set of easily obtainable, relevant measures of a community’s condition that could be used to guide its suicide prevention efforts. Existing data were gathered across 159 Georgia counties for 9 potential social indicators that had been chosen by the communities. Data on these from 1995-1999 were averaged & analyzed to determine their correlation with aggregated 5-year county suicide rates. Results of multivariate modeling procedures showed the number of driving-under-the-influence crashes & the percentage of the population aged 65 or older to be significant correlates of the suicide rate, controlling for other potential indicators. These preliminary data may provide a useful model of a county’s 5-year suicide rate among counties reporting 20 or more suicides. (45 refs.)