%0 Journal Article
%T Elderly suicide in Alberta: difference by gender
%J Canadian journal of psychiatry, The
%D 1999
%A Quan, H.
%A Arboleda-Flórez, J.
%V 44
%N 8
%P 762-768
%X OBJECTIVE: To determine differences by gender among elderly persons who commit suicide on demographic characteristics, place of suicide, suicide method, previous suicide behaviour, and precipitant stressor. METHOD: This study included completed suicides of individuals aged 55 years and over during 1984-1995 in Alberta (n = 920). Information was abstracted from suicide records of medical examiners. RESULTS: Relative to elderly female suicides, elderly males who commit suicide characteristically use guns to commit suicide (43.8%), are single (12.5%), live in rural areas (46.7%), and have a lower frequency of previous suicide attempts (16.5%). Physical illness and financial difficulty as precipitant stressors of suicide are significantly more frequent among males (40.3% and 8.7% respectively) than females (29.9% and 1.8% respectively). Mental illness as a precipitant stressor is more common among females, 35.8% for women and 15.3% for men. CONCLUSIONS: Lethal methods of suicide and physical illness and financial difficulty as precipitant stressors of suicide are more common among elderly males than females who commit suicide.<p /><p>Language: en</p>
%G en
%I SAGE Publications
%@ 0706-7437
%U http://dx.doi.org/