Suicide across the adult life span: Replications and failures

Author: Leenaars A.A.

Source: Archives of Suicide Research, Volume 5, Number 4, 1999 , pp. 263-276(14)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

Suicide is a multidimensional event. To understand this complexity, psychological theory is needed, which is often lacking in current research. This archival study, utilizing 60 suicide notes from across the adult life span, examines models of suicide. An attempt to replicate a previous model (1989) failed to account best for the current data and an alternative theoretical model is provided. Yet, this result should be expected, not only because psychological theory has to be open-ended to define an event, but also because empirical methods for theory construction (such as cluster analysis in this study) are not simply result seeking but are result imposing. Nevertheless, the present study strongly supported an adult life span perspective. Young adults continue to show the greatest amount of differences in their suicide; for examples, higher levels of psychopathology, lower levers of ego strength and a poorer ability to cope with life's demands, e.g., intimacy vs. isolation.

Keywords: age; suicide; suicide notes; theory; young adults

Language: English

Document Type: Regular paper

Affiliations: 1: Windsor, ON, Canda, and University of Leiden, The Netherlands

Publication date: 1999-01-01