Does the level of education influence completed suicide? A nationwide register study

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate whether education attainment was associated with completed suicide, a topic only marginally investigated in the literature.

METHODS

Data for the years between 2006 and 2008 were extracted from the Italian Mortality Database to include all deaths by suicide and natural causes and to obtain information on their education attainment.

RESULTS

We found significant differences in education attainment between suicide victims and individuals deceased by natural causes, stratified by sex and broken down by age bands. Of both males and females from 15 to 64 years old, suicide victims were significantly more often to have a higher education attainment compared with the same sex and age counterparts died from natural causes. Persons with higher school attainment, compared with those with a maximum primary school degree, had significantly increased odds ratios of dying from a suicide rather than a natural cause. For persons aged 65-74 years or above, however, the differences were not so much obvious. These observations remained almost the same after adjustment for marital status, region of residence and age.

CONCLUSIONS

Individual with higher educational achievement may be more prone to suicide risk when facing failures, public shame, and high premorbid functioning.

Notes on the Determinants of Suicide Rates in Italy's Regions: A Reply to Voracek (2009)

This article is a review of Voracek's report (2009) of aggregate intelligence and suicide rates in Italy's regions, contending some findings and proposing new evidence and suggestions for further research. Voracek did not use intelligence data, but educational attainment, which in Italy's regions is affected by sharp imbalances in the quality of public schools and may not reflect differences in intelligence. The statistical analyses were inadequate given the small number of cases; the resulting correlation could be meaningless or even misleading. The paper shows that when the analysis is extended to other variables (latitude) or historical periods (1911) the correlations reported by Voracek are not significant. This criticism is based on perspectives among different branches of psychology and cognitive sciences, economic and social history, and economic geography.