The British Journal of Psychiatry (2008) 192: 279-284. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.107.037382
© 2008 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
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Psychosocial and clinical correlates of suicidal acts: results from a national population survey

Emma Robertson Blackmore, PhD

Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester, New York, USA

Sarah Munce, MSc

University Health Network, Women's Health Program and University of Toronto, Canada

Iris Weller, PhD and Brandon Zagorski, MS

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Canada

Stephen A. Stansfeld, FRCPsych, PhD

Centre for Psychiatry, Barts and the London Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry, London, UK

Donna E. Stewart, FRCPC

University Health Network, Women's Health Program and University of Toronto, Canada

Eric D. Caine, MD and Yeates Conwell, MD

Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester, New York, USA

Correspondence: Dr Emma Robertson Blackmore, Department of Psychiatry, BOX PSYCH 4-9200, University of Rochester Medical Centre, Rochester, New York 14642-8409, USA. Email: emma_robertsonblackmore{at}urmc.rochester.edu

Declaration of interest

None. Funding detailed in Acknowledgements.

Background

Clinical samples have identified a number of psychosocial risk factors for suicidal acts but it is unclear if these findings relate to the general population.

Aims

To describe the prevalence of and psychosocial risk factors for suicidal acts in a general adult population.

Method

Data were obtained from a Canadian epidemiological survey of 36 984 respondents aged 15 years and older (weighted sample n=23 662 430).

Results

Of these respondents, 0.6% (weighted n=130 143) endorsed a 12-month suicidal act. Female gender (OR=4.27, 95% CI 4.05–4.50), being separated (OR=37.88, 95% CI 33.92–42.31) or divorced (OR=7.79, 95% CI 7.22–8.41), being unemployed (OR=1.70, 95% CI 1.50–1.80), experiencing a chronic physical health condition (OR=1.70, 95% CI 1.67–1.86) and experiencing a major depressive episode in the same 12-month period as the act (OR=9.10, 95% CI 8.65–9.59) were significantly associated with a suicidal act.

Conclusions

The psychosocial correlates of suicidal acts in this sample are consistent with those previously reported in clinical and general population samples. These findings reinforce the importance of the determination of suicide risk and its prevention not only of psychiatric illness but of physical and psychosocial factors as well.


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