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Suicide past and present--the temporal constancy of under-reporting
The British Journal of Psychiatry : the Journal of Mental Science
|February 1, 1978
Summary
Official suicide statistics consistently underestimate suicide rates, but the degree of under-reporting appears stable over time. This suggests official data accurately reflects temporal trends and socio-economic influences on suicide incidence.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Epidemiology
- Sociology
Background:
- Official suicide statistics are known to underestimate the true incidence of suicide.
- The consistency of this underestimation over time has not been well-established.
- Understanding the reliability of historical suicide data is crucial for epidemiological studies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess whether the extent of under-reporting in official suicide statistics has remained constant over a significant period.
- To evaluate the validity of official suicide data for studying temporal changes and socio-economic factors.
Main Methods:
- Comparative analysis of coroners' records from Dublin.
- Examining suicide data from two distinct periods: 1900–1904 and 1964–1968.
- Comparing the estimated under-reporting proportions between the two series.
Main Results:
- The proportion of underestimation in official suicide statistics was found to be similar between the 1900–1904 and 1964–1968 series.
- This suggests a consistent level of under-reporting across different time periods.
- The findings support the reliability of official statistics for tracking changes in suicide frequency.
Conclusions:
- Official suicide statistics, despite underestimation, appear to provide a valid reflection of temporal changes in suicide rates.
- The consistency of under-reporting validates the use of these statistics for investigating socio-economic influences on suicide trends.
- Historical suicide data can be reliably used to study long-term patterns and influencing factors.