Youth suicide in Australia

Abstract

The paper reviews the incidence of youth mortality by suicide in Australia in comparison with other industrialised countries around the mid-1990s. It focuses on fatal suicides in Australia and records changes in suicide mortality levels and patterns since the 1950s. The discussion concentrates on the presumed causes of what is often considered as a recent epidemic of self-destruction among young Australian males: drug and alcohol abuse, unemployment. An attempt is made to estimate the global extent of the problem of suicidal behaviour (suicides plus attempted suicides). Finally, some of the attempts of prevention of suicidal acts are reviewed. Show more