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This has some graphs showing the suicide rates for different age groups: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2207007-us-suicide-rate-at-its-highest-since-the-e

This has some graphs showing the suicide rates for different age groups: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2207007-us-suicide-rate-at-its-highest-since-the-end-of-the-second-world-war/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/2207007-us-suicide-rate... There is a clear curve upward in the 15-24 and to a lesser degree the 25-34 group starting in 2013. I don't think there was a big economic downswing at the time, so it could be other cultural or technological factors at play.

DyslexicAtheist 7y ago
technology & social media which lead people into isolation and despite promising the opposite, a less-connected live. meeting people today is much easier than it was 20 years ago (organized events on places like meetup.com, etc ... even tinder make it easy). But the quality of these connections is shallow and very short. also the more time we spend on social media the less time we have to work on real connections (which is massive effort). I'm not surprised by the high rates of 35+ age group as it is very difficult for people (and males in general) to form new meaningful long term bonds after setting down. Add the likelyhood of divorce, burnout or unemployment rates in those age groups it is no wonder. :(
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
  Popular media conveys this conception that the Amish are opposed to technology for religious reasons, but this is incorrect. The Amish place a high value on maintaining their culture, and within that culture familial and community interactions are among the most important ideals. Consequently, each community takes a considered look at technology and how it might influence their culture, and simply choose not to adopt those that they believe would have a negative influence. I think there is something the rest of us could learn from this.
  - SketchySeaBeast 7y ago
    So where did zippers falls on the spectrum of "drive the community apart"?
    - AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
      Probably in the realm of "can't be manufactured within the community leading to a reliance on the outside world for something we don't really need". Not relying on the outside world is also a pretty big theme of their culture.
bumby 7y ago
I was initially surprised to see the relatively high rates in the early part of the 20th century. Some of these seem intuitively obvious, like the higher rates during the Great Depression. What's even more interesting is how suicide rates go down during WW1 and WW2. Sebastian Junger spoke about this in his book "Tribe" where he cites lower psychological disorders in Great Britain at the height of V2 bombing which then increased again after the war. I think his thesis was war created an increased sense of camaraderie/solidarity and sense of purpose. It was a really interesting, quick read.
- sandworm101 7y ago
  The suicide rate always dips after wars, at least historical wars. Wars, again speaking historically. reduced the male population. After the war, surviving males easily find mates and settle into stable homes, resulting in baby booms. It doesn't take much. A change of a few percentage points can radically change the dating scene. I have read about this trend in smaller societies. It has been implicated in the 80s/90s aids crisis in US black communities. A substantial percentage of 20-30yo black males were jailed during the drug war. Those males not in jail found dating far easier. Females had to compete for the artificially reduced number of males. This lead to reduced condom use, accelerating the heterosexual spread of aids in these communities. Also, a baby boom. Changing the male/female ratio in an extremely powerful driver of change.
  - bumby 7y ago
    I think what you're referring to may be different. If you look at the data in the initial graph, suicide rate increases after both WW1 and WW2. It actually went down __during__ the wars and not after, which falls more in line with Junger's book.
- joe_the_user 7y ago
  The interesting thing about early 20th century is the wild swings in the suicide rate, a much more extreme series of swings than any time later. It seems like an indication that during that time, some greater degree of "contagion" was going on relative to later time (not sure from what). Another factor might be spottier records and a smaller population. The suicides from the 1929 stock crash were fodder for much literature and the seems to show an increase up to 1929 and then a steep decrease. I know that during the 19th century, Goethe's "The Sorrows Of Young Werther"[1] was reputed to have provoked a rash of suicides. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorrows_of_Young_Werther https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorrows_of_Young_Werther
GhostVII 7y ago
The suicide rates by ethnicity are very interesting as well - white people have a significantly higher suicide rate (2x) than most other ethnicity, despite presumably facing fewer problems overall. My theory is that they can't attribute issues in their life to things like racism/discrimination, so they perceive failures in their own life as their own fault rather than the fault of a racist society. That also seems to fit with suicides dropping during the world wars, when there is something else which you can blame for your problems, suicide rates are lower. I have nothing to back this up though so idk but it makes sense to me, blaming someone else for your situation is a common way to make yourself feel better about it (and is reasonable in many cases I think, there are lots of things you can't control which contribute to failures in your life).
- Miner49er 7y ago
  Maybe, another theory I've heard from Chris Hedges is that minorities never believed in the myth of the American Dream. White americans have been told as kids that if you go to college, and then work hard, you'll be rewarded with a good life. This generation of people are finding this to be a con. Look at the lack of wage increases since the 70s even though productivity has increased a lot or look at the student debt crisis for some proof that it was. Minorities, on the otherhand, were never taught to believe in the American dream, because they haven't really had it in the past. Now that white people are figuring out it was a myth, and that they are going to likely end up with a worse life then their parents they are commiting suicide, commiting mass shootings, etc. Here's the article. There's some stuff in there I'm not so sure about it, but I think the general idea has some merit. https://www.truthdig.com/articles/american-anomie/ https://www.truthdig.com/articles/american-anomie/
  - jniedrauer 7y ago
    This rings true to me. They told me that if I worked hard, then I'd be successful by default. At some point in my early 20s, I realized that it wasn't true at all, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was severely depressed and felt like a failure, right up until the point where I accidentally stumbled into being a programmer and turned out to be good at it.
ronnier 7y ago
Tinder and online dating going mainstream. The male suicide rate is like 10x that of the female. Males struggle in today’s dating market.
- spinach 7y ago
  Women struggle too, but get scared away by creeps and being put in scary situations. Women need to feel safe, not fear rape, and not feel treated just like a sex object. Just don't be creepy and respect women.
  - ionised 7y ago
    > and not feel treated just like a sex object. Tinder might be the wrong place for that.
  - jschwartzi 7y ago
    Yeah, my girlfriend has told me so many stories of the men she dated from Tinder. And of the men she spent time with in the singles' club we met in. And frankly it's understandable that those men are single because most of the stories were of them either not actually attempting to connect with her as a human being, or they were stories of them outwardly objectifying her before even introducing themselves, or they were stories of crippling social anxiety. And as a rule none of them gave any indication they were aware of these things as problems that could be worked on or solved. So it doesn't surprise me there are a bunch of single men out there desperate for attention from women, because there appear to be a bunch of single men out there who are totally unable to take responsibility for or to fix their own problems.
    - durnygbur 7y ago
      How one knows what to fix regarding character and behaviour, if for the person nothing works? Not a little bit, less often, a little bit later, a little bit different, with different kind of person. Nothing works, never. Please save me from the objectifying story, as both genders are gravely guilty of this (height requirements, demanding certain position and status from the men, very demanding list of character traits in general, all this while expecting appearance of someone professional like actors or celebrities).
pjc50 7y ago
To me the date that stands out most starkly is that everything was improving until 9/11, until it started back upwards. Suicide rates by veterans (due to PTSD) aren't broken out separately but they are notoriously high, and the US has been at war since then. May also be worth considering school shootings and the psychological impact of "preventative" drills inducing fear of them.
shereadsthenews 7y ago
I find this chart by age and cohort to be a bit more illustrative. https://imgur.com/gallery/UZVEt https://imgur.com/gallery/UZVEt
DanBC 7y ago
> starting in 2013 There's considerable lag in the statistics. Someone dies; their death is investigated and a ruling is made; statisticians collect the data, collate a report, and release the data. The dataset for 2013 could be talking about deaths in 2011.

DyslexicAtheist 7y ago

technology & social media which lead people into isolation and despite promising the opposite, a less-connected live. meeting people today is much easier than it was 20 years ago (organized events on places like meetup.com, etc ... even tinder make it easy). But the quality of these connections is shallow and very short. also the more time we spend on social media the less time we have to work on real connections (which is massive effort). I'm not surprised by the high rates of 35+ age group as it is very difficult for people (and males in general) to form new meaningful long term bonds after setting down. Add the likelyhood of divorce, burnout or unemployment rates in those age groups it is no wonder. :(

AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
Popular media conveys this conception that the Amish are opposed to technology for religious reasons, but this is incorrect. The Amish place a high value on maintaining their culture, and within that culture familial and community interactions are among the most important ideals. Consequently, each community takes a considered look at technology and how it might influence their culture, and simply choose not to adopt those that they believe would have a negative influence. I think there is something the rest of us could learn from this.
- SketchySeaBeast 7y ago
  So where did zippers falls on the spectrum of "drive the community apart"?
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
    Probably in the realm of "can't be manufactured within the community leading to a reliance on the outside world for something we don't really need". Not relying on the outside world is also a pretty big theme of their culture.

bumby 7y ago

I was initially surprised to see the relatively high rates in the early part of the 20th century. Some of these seem intuitively obvious, like the higher rates during the Great Depression. What's even more interesting is how suicide rates go down during WW1 and WW2. Sebastian Junger spoke about this in his book "Tribe" where he cites lower psychological disorders in Great Britain at the height of V2 bombing which then increased again after the war. I think his thesis was war created an increased sense of camaraderie/solidarity and sense of purpose. It was a really interesting, quick read.

sandworm101 7y ago
The suicide rate always dips after wars, at least historical wars. Wars, again speaking historically. reduced the male population. After the war, surviving males easily find mates and settle into stable homes, resulting in baby booms. It doesn't take much. A change of a few percentage points can radically change the dating scene. I have read about this trend in smaller societies. It has been implicated in the 80s/90s aids crisis in US black communities. A substantial percentage of 20-30yo black males were jailed during the drug war. Those males not in jail found dating far easier. Females had to compete for the artificially reduced number of males. This lead to reduced condom use, accelerating the heterosexual spread of aids in these communities. Also, a baby boom. Changing the male/female ratio in an extremely powerful driver of change.
- bumby 7y ago
  I think what you're referring to may be different. If you look at the data in the initial graph, suicide rate increases after both WW1 and WW2. It actually went down __during__ the wars and not after, which falls more in line with Junger's book.
joe_the_user 7y ago
The interesting thing about early 20th century is the wild swings in the suicide rate, a much more extreme series of swings than any time later. It seems like an indication that during that time, some greater degree of "contagion" was going on relative to later time (not sure from what). Another factor might be spottier records and a smaller population. The suicides from the 1929 stock crash were fodder for much literature and the seems to show an increase up to 1929 and then a steep decrease. I know that during the 19th century, Goethe's "The Sorrows Of Young Werther"[1] was reputed to have provoked a rash of suicides. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorrows_of_Young_Werther https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorrows_of_Young_Werther

GhostVII 7y ago

The suicide rates by ethnicity are very interesting as well - white people have a significantly higher suicide rate (2x) than most other ethnicity, despite presumably facing fewer problems overall. My theory is that they can't attribute issues in their life to things like racism/discrimination, so they perceive failures in their own life as their own fault rather than the fault of a racist society. That also seems to fit with suicides dropping during the world wars, when there is something else which you can blame for your problems, suicide rates are lower. I have nothing to back this up though so idk but it makes sense to me, blaming someone else for your situation is a common way to make yourself feel better about it (and is reasonable in many cases I think, there are lots of things you can't control which contribute to failures in your life).

Miner49er 7y ago
Maybe, another theory I've heard from Chris Hedges is that minorities never believed in the myth of the American Dream. White americans have been told as kids that if you go to college, and then work hard, you'll be rewarded with a good life. This generation of people are finding this to be a con. Look at the lack of wage increases since the 70s even though productivity has increased a lot or look at the student debt crisis for some proof that it was. Minorities, on the otherhand, were never taught to believe in the American dream, because they haven't really had it in the past. Now that white people are figuring out it was a myth, and that they are going to likely end up with a worse life then their parents they are commiting suicide, commiting mass shootings, etc. Here's the article. There's some stuff in there I'm not so sure about it, but I think the general idea has some merit. https://www.truthdig.com/articles/american-anomie/ https://www.truthdig.com/articles/american-anomie/
- jniedrauer 7y ago
  This rings true to me. They told me that if I worked hard, then I'd be successful by default. At some point in my early 20s, I realized that it wasn't true at all, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was severely depressed and felt like a failure, right up until the point where I accidentally stumbled into being a programmer and turned out to be good at it.

ronnier 7y ago

Tinder and online dating going mainstream. The male suicide rate is like 10x that of the female. Males struggle in today’s dating market.

spinach 7y ago
Women struggle too, but get scared away by creeps and being put in scary situations. Women need to feel safe, not fear rape, and not feel treated just like a sex object. Just don't be creepy and respect women.
- ionised 7y ago
  > and not feel treated just like a sex object. Tinder might be the wrong place for that.
- jschwartzi 7y ago
  Yeah, my girlfriend has told me so many stories of the men she dated from Tinder. And of the men she spent time with in the singles' club we met in. And frankly it's understandable that those men are single because most of the stories were of them either not actually attempting to connect with her as a human being, or they were stories of them outwardly objectifying her before even introducing themselves, or they were stories of crippling social anxiety. And as a rule none of them gave any indication they were aware of these things as problems that could be worked on or solved. So it doesn't surprise me there are a bunch of single men out there desperate for attention from women, because there appear to be a bunch of single men out there who are totally unable to take responsibility for or to fix their own problems.
  - durnygbur 7y ago
    How one knows what to fix regarding character and behaviour, if for the person nothing works? Not a little bit, less often, a little bit later, a little bit different, with different kind of person. Nothing works, never. Please save me from the objectifying story, as both genders are gravely guilty of this (height requirements, demanding certain position and status from the men, very demanding list of character traits in general, all this while expecting appearance of someone professional like actors or celebrities).

pjc50 7y ago

To me the date that stands out most starkly is that everything was improving until 9/11, until it started back upwards. Suicide rates by veterans (due to PTSD) aren't broken out separately but they are notoriously high, and the US has been at war since then. May also be worth considering school shootings and the psychological impact of "preventative" drills inducing fear of them.

shereadsthenews 7y ago

I find this chart by age and cohort to be a bit more illustrative. https://imgur.com/gallery/UZVEt https://imgur.com/gallery/UZVEt

DanBC 7y ago

> starting in 2013 There's considerable lag in the statistics. Someone dies; their death is investigated and a ruling is made; statisticians collect the data, collate a report, and release the data. The dataset for 2013 could be talking about deaths in 2011.