TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2007//
TI  - The relationship between elderly suicide rates and elderly dependency ratios: a cross-national study using data from the WHO data bank
JO  - International psychogeriatrics / IPA
A1  - Shah, Ajit
A1  - Padayatchi, Mellisha
A1  - Das, Kavita
SP  - 1
EP  - 9
VL  - 
IS  - 
N2  - Background: Cultural factors may influence cross-national variations in elderly suicide rates.Methods: A cross-national study examining the relationship between elderly suicide rates and elderly dependency ratios was conducted with the a priori unidirectional hypothesis that lower elderly dependency ratios (ratio of people over the age of 65 years to people under the age of 65 years) may imply a greater number of younger people being potentially available to provide support and respect to the elderly and to hold them in high esteem, and this would lead to a reduction in elderly suicide rates. Data on elderly suicide rates, and the total number of elderly and young people were ascertained from the World Health Organization website.Results: Significant positive correlations were found between the natural logarithm of suicide rates, in both sexes in two elderly age-bands (65-74 years and 75+ years), and the elderly dependency ratio for males, females and both sexes combined.Conclusions: The impact of elderly dependency ratios on elderly suicide rates may interact with and be modified and mediated through cultural factors. The contribution of cross-national differences in cultural factors on elderly suicide rates require further study by formally measuring cultural factors with validated instruments.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1041-6102
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S104161020700628X
ID  - ref1
ER  -