The age Structure of Female Suicide Rates: Measurement and Analysis of 20 Developed Countries, 1955-1994

In GirardÕs study, 1976-1980, a comparison of suicide rates in 49 less & more developed populations was made & he concluded the age structure of female suicide rates was a function of the level of economic development. This article includes a partial test of his theory & found the age structure of female suicide in mid-19th-century European populations not at all like the structures of less developed countries in 1976-1980. Tests for changes in age structures from 1955-64 to 1985-94 found 17 of the 20 populations had major change in this period. (LC) (16 refs)