Sociodemographic variables most associated with suicidal behaviour and suicide methods in Europe and America. A systematic review

Abstract

This Systematic Review is thought to deepen the relation between sociodemographic variables most associated with suicidal behaviour and suicide methods in Europe and America. A research was made from articles and reviews published between 2005-2015 in PsycINFO, Medline, Web of Science Core Collection, Scopus, and SciELO. Thanks to it, we retrieved 5,222 records which were analysed against the inclusion (e.g., any design of the study, published in English or Spanish) and quality criteria, including 53 studies in the review. In these results it is noticeable how men (36% of the studies) and elderly (28% of the studies) commit suicide more frequently. Women (30% of the studies) and young people (17% of the studies) have more attempts and suicidal behaviour. The most commonly used methods among them include hanging (24% of the studies), firearm (17% of the studies), and precipitation (6% of the studies); unemployment (17% of the studies), rural life (9% of the studies), a marital status other than marriage (15% of the studies), and low education (23% of the studies) are also closely associated with both suicide and suicidal behaviour. Consequently, important connections can be concluded when carrying out psychological autopsies, which should be taken into account due to their clear implications in personal and material damage that must be elucidated judicially, clarifying the specific occurrence as suicide, homicide, or accident.