TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2007//
TI  - Have urban/rural inequalities in suicide in New Zealand grown during the period 1980-2001?
JO  - Social science and medicine (1982)
A1  - Pearce, J.
A1  - Barnett, Ross
A1  - Jones, Ian
SP  - 1807
EP  - 1819
VL  - 65
IS  - 8
N2  - Previous studies have noted that in many countries there has been a disproportionate increase in suicide in rural areas, contributing to greater urban/rural inequalities in health. This paper evaluates whether this trend was also apparent in New Zealand during the 1980s and 1990s, a period of rapid social and economic change. Using suicide incidence data for the period 1980-2001, we investigate whether urban/rural status had an effect upon rates of suicide independently of socioeconomic deprivation. While both male and female suicide rates were significantly higher in urban than rural areas in 1980-1982, by the end of the 1990s, urban/rural differences in suicide rates were not significant. The narrowing of urban/rural differences was, to some extent, a result of the growth in suicide rates in more isolated rural communities and small rural service centres. Recent geographical variations in suicide in New Zealand are therefore to a large extent similar to trends observed elsewhere, but are less marked. Potential explanations are offered for the fluctuating urban/rural inequalities in suicide including compositional arguments, rural restructuring and economic decline, social isolation and health service utilisation.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0277-9536
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.05.044
ID  - ref1
ER  -