Dance of death

Reports that a team of sociologists from the University of California at Irvine has found that for most people, the risk of suicide is distributed randomly over the course of a week, the month, and the year. Males under 20 peak in Winter; Males over 40 peak on Monday mornings; 65 and older peak during the first week of the month; Statistics among women.

By PT Staff, published on May 01, 1992

Despair, it seems, has its own rhythm, which is most conspicuous in thetiming of suicides among certain population groups. While conventional wisdom has long linked suicides and Mondays, new research suggests that suicide patterns are more complex than previously thought.

After reviewing suicide data by age and gender, a team of sociologists from the University of California at Irvine has found that, for most people, the risk is distributed random! Iy over the course of the week, the month, the year. But for males under 20 and over 40, there are distinct blips. They reflect private crises played out on a field of generational concerns.

Among males under 20, suicide rates peak in winter and drop to summer lows, a pattern correlating directly with the school year. Suicide takes a steep upward course in September, and is lowest during vacation months of June and July. A dramatic (if smaller) decline in December coincides with the winter holiday break.

The Monday-morning syndrome survives, however, among men 41 to 55, report sociologists Kenneth Chew and Richard McCleary. They speculate that the rise reflects regret over test youth, accomplishment that feels anticlimactic, and--as a new generation hits adulthood--a sense of personal mortality. To the extent that Mondays magnify hopelessness in those who've seen career peaks pass, divorce occur, or children depart, the Monday peak may reflect a weekly cycle of self-scrutiny.

At age 65 and older, notably among men, suicide peaks during the first week of the month, usually a jolly time when social-security checks arrive with money for a movie or a dinner out--activities restrained by budget for the rest of the month. But for a person whose spouse has died, the time becomes a sad reminder of what's been lost. McCleary also cites a broken-promises syndrome: Men with financial or health problems tell themselves the situation will improve, then take stock again the next month.

Among women, a quick suicide-rate rise at 65 suggests the social skills normally buffering them are no match for a new threat: sharing the brunt of adjustment to hubby's retirement.

PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): A man jumping from a building