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Methods of Suicide of English and Welsh Immigrants in Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

P. W. Burvill ,
M. G. McCall ,
T. A. Reid  and
N. S. Stenhouse
P. W. Burvill
Affiliation:
University of Western Australia, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Shenton Park, Western Australia, 6008
M. G. McCall
Affiliation:
University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia, 6009
T. A. Reid
Affiliation:
University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia, 6009
N. S. Stenhouse
Affiliation:
University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia, 6009
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Extract

One of the better known facts about suicide rates is their remarkable stability in terms of the sex of the victim, the methods used and the age-specific rates in different societies over considerable periods of time. Suicide studies suggest that the frequency and methods of suicide are determined largely by the culture, social mores and a number of other factors— possibly demographic—which remain relatively stable over fairly long periods (Whitlock, 1971). Methods of suicide can vary from country to country (Dublin, 1963; Stengel, 1964). In Australia, there has been a remarkable consistency in the major methods of suicide throughout this century (Saint, 1965), although Hetzel (1971) has pointed out the marked rise in rates from self-poisoning in the last twenty years. Burvill (1970) has contrasted the methods of suicide in Western Australia with those reported in America and Britain, as has Whitlock (1971) among the various immigrant groups in Australia, although he warned that his results were based on comparatively small numbers of suicides in minority population groups. Overall age-standardized suicide rates among immigrants to Australia are substantially higher than those prevailing in their country of origin and among the Australian-born population (Whitlock, 1971; Burvill et al., 1972).

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 123 , Issue 574 , September 1973 , pp. 285 - 294
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1973 

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References

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