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Does the economy affect trends in suicide?

Does the economy affect trends in suicide?. Group 4 Shelly Matushevski Karen Pavlisko Bennett Cowie Matt Morrison November 23, 2009. Introduction. =. Can money buy happiness? Do times of economic hardship affect the rates of suicide in the United States? Weakening economy

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Does the economy affect trends in suicide?

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  1. Does the economy affect trends in suicide? Group 4 Shelly Matushevski Karen Pavlisko Bennett Cowie Matt Morrison November 23, 2009

  2. Introduction = • Can money buy happiness? • Do times of economic hardship affect the rates of suicide in the United States? • Weakening economy • Rising unemployment rates • Slow GDP growth • Spill over onto an individual’s mental health • Is there a direct relationship between the economy and suicide rates?

  3. Theory • One may speculate there is a relationship between an economy in recession and the depletion of a person’s mental health • Spurred by rising unemployment rates, falling profits of businesses, and fear of bankruptcy for businesses and individuals • Does worry (about economic issues) lead to stress, then lead to depression, and then maybe even onto suicide? • One might wonder whether or not the suicide rate is in fact related to the businesscycle

  4. Method • Use of economic research related to the economies affect on suicide rates • Excel spreadsheets constructed with data from reliable sources to create a useable data set in SAS • Importation of raw data into SAS • Analysis of data in SAS to determine trends between suicides and recessions

  5. Research Findings • Ethnic and Sex Differences in Suicide Rates Relative to Major Depression in the United States • Antidepressants and Suicide Risk in the United States, 1985-1999 • Does unemployment increase suicide rates? The OECD Panel Evidence • Economic Theory of Suicide • Happiness and Economic Performance • The Economy and Suicide: a Time-Series Study of the U.S.A.

  6. Research Findings • Economic data was compared to three socio-demographic factors that can cause depression • Low income • Unemployment • Disrupted marriages • Males from all ethnic groups have higher suicide rates than females • Women were twice as likely to be suffering from depression due to the three socio-demographic factors • Victims undergo major depression before time of death

  7. Results -the regression line is shown graphing the suicide rate dependent upon changes in GDP. -p-value = .1350, much larger than accepted alpha of .05 -R2 value= .0907 The R2-value represents how well the regression line is able to approximate the actual data. -Very weak relationship

  8. Results -regression line is shown graphing suicide rate dependent upon the unemployment rate -p-value = .0007, smaller than accepted alpha of .05 -R2 value also shows the trend is much more significant at .3885 -Useful model

  9. Results -suicide rates as a whole steadily decline for a 15 year period beginning in 1986 -Appears to be a period of lag. Between 1983 and 1986, unemployment rates fell, suicide rates actually rose -Between 1990 to 1992 rates in suicide decreased while the unemployment rate increased severely

  10. References • Grunebaum, Michael, Steven Ellis, Shuhua Li, Maria Oquendo, and J. John Mann."Antidepressants and Suicide Risk in the United States, 1985-1999." Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. November 2004. http://excalibur.cpmc.columbia.edu/reprints/Grunebaum%20et%20al%20JCP%202003.pdf (accessed November 5, 2009). • Hamermesh, Daniel, and Neal Soss. "An Economic Theory of Suicide." The Journal of PoliticalEconomy. February 1974. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1830901?seq=1 (accessed November 5, 2009). • Noh, Yong-Hwan. "Does Unemployment Increase Suicide Rates? The OECD Panel Evidence.“Journal of Economic Psychology. August 2009. http://journals.ohiolink.edu/ejc/pdf.cgi/Noh_Yong-Hwan.pdf?issn=01674870&issue=v30i0004&article=575_duisrtope (accessed November 5, 2009). • Oquendo, Maria, Steven Ellis, Steven Greenwald, Kevin Malone, Myrna Weissman, and J. JohnMann. Ethnic and Sex Differences in Suicide Rates Relative to Major Depression in the United States. October 2001. http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/158/10/1652#SEC2 (accessed November 5, 2009). • Oswald, Andrew. "Happiness and Economic Performance." The Economic Journal. 1997. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2957911 (accessed November 5, 2009 ). • Ruhm, Christopher. "Are Recessions good for your Health?" The Quarterly Journal of Economics. May 2000. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2587005?&Search=yes&term=recessions&term=suicide&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoAdvancedSearch%3Fq0%3Dsuicide%2Band%2Brecessions%26f0%3Dall%26c0%3DAND%26q1%3D%26f1%3Dall%26c1%3DAND%26q2%3D%26f2%3Dall%26c2%3DAND%26q3%3D%26f3% (accessed November 5, 2009). • Yang, Bijou. “The economy and suicide: a time-series study of the U.S.A.” American Journal of Economics and Sociology, volume 51, no. 1 January 1992 (pp. 87-99)

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