Tore Bjerke

Relation between attempted suicide and suicide rates among young people in Europe.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To determine if there are associations between rates of suicide and attempted suicide in 15-24 year olds in different countries in Europe. DESIGN: Attempted suicide rates were based on data collected in centres in Europe between 1989 and 1992 as part of the WHO/EURO Multicentre Study of Parasuicide. Comparison was made with both national suicide rates and local suicide rates for the areas in which the attempted suicide monitoring centres are based. SETTING: 15 centres in 13 European countries. PATIENTS: Young people aged 15-24 years who had taken overdoses or deliberately injured themselves and been identified in health care facilities. MAIN RESULTS: There were positive correlations (Spearman rank order) between rates of attempted suicide and suicide rates in both sexes. The correlations only reached statistical significance for male subjects: regional suicide rates, r = 0.65, p < 0.02; national suicide rates, r = 0.55, p < 0.02. CONCLUSIONS: Rates of attempted suicide and suicide in the young covary. The recent increase in attempted suicide rates in young male subjects in several European countries could herald a further increase in suicide rates.

Methods used for parasuicide: results of the WHO/EURO Multicentre Study on Parasuicide

Background: National suicide statistics show remarkable differences in the frequencies of various methods used for completed suicide. The WHO/EURO Multicentre Study on Parasuicide makes possible for the first time an international comparison of the frequencies of methods used in attempted suicide, because the data are based on geographical catchment areas of medical institutions. Method: Ongoing standardized monitoring of attempted suicide in all medical institutions serving the catchment areas was performed in 14 centres in 12 European countries. The data analysis is based on 20,649 events involving 15,530 persons, recorded between 1989 and 1993. Results: The comparison of rates per 100,000 shows striking differences between the centres. The highest rates for drug overdoses were found for female attempters in Oxford (347/100,000), Helsinki (238/100,000) and Stockholm (221/100,000). Guipuzcoa had the lowest rates (61/100,000). The differences were most prominent in the age group 15–24, with outstanding rates for women in Oxford (653/100,000), which was mainly due to the frequent use of analgesics. Szeged had outstandingly high rates for pesticides and solvents. In some centres the use of multiple methods was frequent. Conclusions: There is a need, especially for areas with high frequencies for certain methods, to understand the factors involved and to develop new and specific prevention projects and to monitor their effects. The WHO/EURO Multicentre Study on Parasuicide has proved to be a useful and reliable instrument for continuous monitoring of trends in parasuicide.

Sexual response of female yellowhammers to differences in regional song dialects and repertoire sizes

Female yellowhammers, Emberiza citrinella, a common Eurasian songbird, were tested in the laboratory for their sexual response to male songs from two different dialects and to three different repertoire sizes (one–three). In the first experiment, the females responded with significantly more copulation solicitation displays when played their home dialect from Norway than when played a dialect from Denmark. These two dialects also occur in adjacent populations. This result is consistent with the hypothesis that females mate assortatively with males of their own dialect in natural populations. Previous work on yellowhammers suggested an adaptive explanation for assortative mating. In the second experiment, the females responded with significantly more copulation solicitation displays when played a repertoire of two or three song types than when played a single song type. This result is consistent with the hypothesis that sexual selection has been involved in the evolution of enhanced repertoire size in songbirds.

Physical illness and parasuicide: evidence from the European Parasuicide Study Interview Schedule (EPSIS/WHO-EURO).

Objective: The aim of this research was to identify psychosocial characteristics which might predict future suicidal behavior in parasuicidal subjects in Europe. Method: The interview utilized for the survey (European Parasuicide Study Interview Schedule—EPSIS) was administered to 1269 parasuicides aged fifteen years and over, within one week of hospital admission after a suicide attempt, and is part of a longitudinal multicenter study. EPSIS included a brief medical questionnaire, scales rating depression, hopelessness, self-esteem, suicide intention, questions on sociodemographic characteristics, an interview on life events and social support, a description of the parasuicidal act, and an evaluation of factors precipitating the index parasuicide. Results: Physical illness proved to be very frequent among suicide attempters. One in two subjects suffered from an acute, chronic, or chronic disorder in relapse at the time of the parasuicide. Subjects with a physical illness were significantly more depressed, particularly subjects from the intermediate age band and ones affected by a chronic physical disease in relapse. Forty-two percent of patients with physical illness rated their somatic problem as a factor precipitating the attempt and 22 percent judged it to be major one. Furthermore, subjects with physical illnesses considered psychiatric symptoms and disorders to be relevant factors in triggering suicidal behavior, to a greater extent than non-sufferers. The importance of physical illness in contributing to suicidal behavior increased with advancing age. Conclusions: More careful attention to somatic conditions and their subjective implications would probably augment chances of effectively preventing suicide.

Recommended care for young people (15-19 years) after suicide attempts in certain European countries.

Abstract Data on recommended care for young people aged 15–19 years after attempted suicide from nine European research centres during the period 1989–1992 were analysed in terms of gender, history of previous suicide attempt and methods used. Altogether 438 suicide attempts made by 353 boys and 1,102 suicide attempts made by 941 girls were included. Analyses of the total data from all centres showed that young people with a history of previous suicide attempt and those using violent methods had significantly higher chance of being recommended aftercare than first-time attempters or those choosing self-poisoning. There were no significant differences of being recommended care between genders. Logistic regression analyses of the material were performed and the results were similar. Both having previous attempted suicide (odds ratio 2.0, 95% CI 1.53–2.61) and using “hard” methods (odds ratio 1.71, 95% CI 1.49–1.96) were significantly associated with increased possibility of being recommended aftercare. When individual centres were analysed, large disparities of recommended care after suicide attempts were found and there were no uniform criteria of recommending care for young suicide attempters in Europe.

Sex-Trait Stereotypes in France, Germany, and Norway:

Previous studies in the United States, England, and Ireland had demonstrated a high degree of cross-national generality in sex-trait stereotypes, i.e., the psychological traits which are differentially ascribed to men and women (e.g., men are aggressive, women are emotional, and the like). The present article reports on similar studies conducted with university student subjects in France, Germany, and Norway who were given translated versions of the Gough-Heilbrun Adjective Check List and were asked to report on those traits which were more frequently associated with men, with women, or with neither, in their respective countries. The results indicated a high degree of similarity in the findings of the three new continental groups and the three previous English-speaking groups. Although there were some apparent minor differences among countries, the results were sufficiently similar to permit the hypothesis that there are common sex-trait stereotypes which exist in all Western countries and, perhaps, even in countries of greater cultural diversity.

The WHO-EURO Multicentre Study: Risk of Parasuicide and the Comparability of the Areas Under Study

The 15 areas under study in the WHO/Euro Multicentre Study on Parasuicide vary considerably with regard to socio-economic factors, culture, life-styles, etc. In this paper, the authors discuss whether the traditional high risk factors for suicidal behavior (such as unemployment, abuse, divorce, etc.) take on different weights depending on local societal and cultural settings. Results from analyzing covariations between various background factors characteristic of the different areas under study and the frequency of attempted suicide showed weak or insignificant correlations, indicating that high-risk factors can only be identified from international pooled data with great care.

Song conformity and continuity in song dialects of Redwings Turdus iliacus and some ecological correlates

This study is based on the assumption that song sharing in neighbouring Redwings is advantageous in terms of genetic fitness. By calculating dispersal and immigration rates we also wanted to gain information about the timing of song learning and the causal background for the maintenance of local song dialects in this species. We recorded and analysed the song patterns of 304 Redwing males during three or four consecutive years in six populations in central Norway and Sweden. Data on breeding success, dispersal and immigration were collected for three of the populations. Although some males had two song types, most had only one. The frequency of two-type singers in the different areas did not correlate with the density of singing or breeding birds, nor with the extent of song sharing between birds, which differed considerably between areas. Song sharing did not correlate with the density of singing or breeding birds, but was positively correlated with breeding success. To explain this relationship we suggest that differences in age structure, onset of breeding in spring and nest predation are important. Sparsely populated areas and areas with high breeding success had a more stable song pattern from one year to the next than areas with higher density and lower breeding success, respectively. Colour-banding indicated that on average 17% of adults returned to the area in which they nested previously, whereas less than 1% of nestlings returned to the natal area. Thus, we suggest that the local nestling population contributed very little to the same breeding population in the following year, and that the longterm maintenance of a local dialect may be explained by the young males copying the song of the older males of the area in which they settle to breed in their first spring.

Parasuicide in the Nordic countries.

This article gives an account of some findings of the WHO/EURO multicentre study on parasuicide from the five Nordic centres: Helsinki (Finland), Stockholm (Sweden), and the counties of Funen (Denmark), Sør-Trøndelag (Norway) and Västerbotten (Sweden). For parasuicide patients treated in hospital in these five Nordic centres, the parasuicide rates per 100,000 inhabitants per annum were 222 for women, 213 for men and 224 for both sexes combined. In all the Nordic centres except Helsinki, women had higher parasuicide rates than men. The female/male parasuicide ratio was 1.16 for all Nordic centres. The highest parasuicide rates in the whole material were found in Helsinki, Stockholm and Funen, and the lowest in Sør-Trøndelag and Västerbotten. The highest parasuicide rates lay in the 30–39 age interval, i.e. the peak of parasuicide rates was in older age groups than previously reported. Single people, especially divorcees and those who have never been married, constitute a high-risk group in both sexes. The risk of parasuicide for single men is three times that for married men in all the Nordic centres except Sør-Trøndelag, where the risk is five times higher. The parasuicide risk for single women is twice as high as for married women except for women in Funen, where the risk for single and married women is almost equal. Exceptionally high parasuicide rates are also reported for Finnish citizens in Sweden, compared with Finns from the Helsinki centre. Parasuicide rates appear to be correlated with population density, since the densely populated areas of Helsinki, Stockholm and Funen evince higher parasuicide rates than the sparsely populated areas of Sør-Trøndelag and Vasterbotten.

WHO (Nordic) multicentre study on parasuicide

Sixteen centres from 14 different European countries are participating in the WHO/Euro multicentre study on parasuicide. In this paper the Nordic part of the research project is presented. Both the epidemiologic monitoring study and the repetition prediction study (EP-SIS) are introduced. The catchment areas covered by each of the five Nordic centres are described, along with selection procedures and assessment instruments. Moreover, some recent incidence data on parasuicide event rates in the Nordic catchment areas are also presented. Finally, a progress of the repetition prediction study is described.