We published a new paper from Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, Early View.
Abstract
Objective
In recent years, rural areas have reported higher suicide rates than
urban areas worldwide. Although agricultural activity is a key
characteristic of many rural areas, rurality may also have
heterogeneous qualities based on the type of agriculture pursued.
However, to date, no study has examined potential linkages between
suicide rate and types of agriculture.
Method
In this study, we used 1983–2007 annual time‐series data of the
standardized mortality ratio (SMR) of suicide and product‐specific
agricultural outputs in Japanese municipalities to shed light on this
phenomenon. We conducted a multilevel linear regression analysis,
taking into account a hierarchical structure of the time‐series data,
limiting our analysis to municipalities where agricultural land use
was high.
Results
Our multilevel analysis showed that the animal husbandry output was
positively associated with suicide SMR in both women and men, with a
stronger relationship among women, whereas no association was observed
in agricultural crop output. Temporal analysis showed that the
association could be observed consistently throughout the period
between 1983 and 2007.
Conclusions
This study raises the possibility that the industrial and cultural
characteristics of communities that rely on animal husbandry may be
associated with an increased risk of suicide.
Kanamori, M., Kondo, N. (2019). Suicide and Types of Agriculture: A
Time-Series Analysis in Japan. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior,
Early View
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