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Alcohol and Suicide in Scandinavia
Author(s) -
NORSTRÖM THOR
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
british journal of addiction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.424
H-Index - 193
eISSN - 1360-0443
pISSN - 0952-0481
DOI - 10.1111/j.1360-0443.1988.tb02574.x
Subject(s) - per capita , suicide prevention , demography , alcohol consumption , poison control , occupational safety and health , injury prevention , heavy drinking , human factors and ergonomics , environmental health , psychology , medicine , alcohol , sociology , population , biochemistry , chemistry , pathology
Summary Several individual level studies suggest that heavy drinking is a risk factor with regard to suicide. At the aggregate level we should thus expect a relationship between the suicide rate and the prevalence of heavy drinking (as measured by per capita consumption of alcohol). To test this hypothesis, time series data far Denmark (1931–80), Finland (1932–80), Norway (1931–80) and Sweden (1922–49, 1950–70) was analysed. It was expected that the relationship between alcohol and suicide would be contingent on characteristics of the drinking culture. More specifically, it was thought that the relationship would be strongest in Finland, with its more explosive drinking practice, weakest in Denmark due to its more continental drinking patterns, and with Sweden and Norway in between. The results show that the relationship is statistically significant in the two latter countries only. Some methodological problems that should be considered when interpreting the findings are discussed in the final section.