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A Comparison of Suicide Note Writers with Suicides Who Did Not Leave Notes
Author(s) -
Callanan Valerie J.,
Davis Mark S.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
suicide and life‐threatening behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.544
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1943-278X
pISSN - 0363-0234
DOI - 10.1521/suli.2009.39.5.558
Subject(s) - suicide prevention , poison control , injury prevention , occupational safety and health , human factors and ergonomics , summit , mental health , affect (linguistics) , medicine , psychiatry , medical emergency , psychology , geography , communication , pathology , physical geography
There is disagreement in the suicide literature on the value of suicide notes as a data source, particularly regarding the extent to which suicide decedents who write notes differ from those who do not. Using 10 years of suicide cases from Summit County, Ohio, these two groups were compared on 40 variables including sociodemographic characteristics, reported affect before death, precipitating events, physical and mental health status and care, and method of suicide. The only differences found were that note writers were more likely to have lived alone and had made prior suicide threats. These findings suggest that for research purposes, suicide cases with and without notes are essentially similar.