Cohort Variations in Suicide Rates Among Families of Nations: an Analysis of Cohorts Born From 1875 Through 1985

Using data on age-specific suicide rates from 19 modern nations & cohorts born as early as 1875-9, it was found two indicators of cohort-related social capital, relative cohort size & percentage of nonmarital births, are positively & significantly related to suicide rates. These effects are significantly stronger in the English-speaking family of nations. The analytic model, an extension of the Age-Period Cohort Characteristic model, provides strong controls for age & periods effects as well as for autoregressive effects within cohorts. (27 notes, 50 refs.)