MedPage: Suicide Rate Highest in Middle Age
WASHINGTON — The suicide rate, once highest among those older than 80, now tops out among people in the 45 to 54 age group, according to a CDC report on violent deaths.
In 2007, the latest year for which figures are available, the suicide among those ages 45 to 54 was 17.6 per 100,000 population, CDC researchers reported in a surveillance summary published on May 14 by the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Next highest rates were in the 75 to 84 and 35 to 44 age groups at 16.4 and 16.3 per 100,000 respectively.
This marks the second year in a row that the suicide rate among middle-age adults has surpassed that in the oldest group.
Children 10 to 14 had the lowest suicide rate (0.8 per 100,000) and the rate among older teenagers (6.9 per 100,000) was about half that of those 30 or older. …
In 2005, I did a post about Generation X, which William Strauss and Neal Howe define as those born between 1961 and 1980. In the middle of that post, I wrote about the sub-group born 1961-1964, folks that are about 45-50 years old today:
… For Generation X, it was one of continued ascent out of dysfunction. The group of children born 1961-1964 was the most dysfunctional cohort of the century. Strauss and Howe used a number of measures shown in the graph below. Compared to any other young adult cohort in the past several decades, this group was responsible for the lowest aptitude scores and the highest rates of alcohol consumption, violent crime, drunk driving, substance abuse, arson, and marijuana consumption. From my own study, I know you can add suicide to the list.
All of these dysfunctions slowly began to subside with the Xers born after 1964, …
Some have described the group of folks born between 1954-1965 as Generation Jones. That is inclusive of this high suicide cohort. I was born squarely in the middle of the group. It will be interesting to see what social scientists identify as the key factors for the rise in suicide for this group at this time.
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