Baby boomers driving rise in suicide rates

Baby boomers appear to be driving a dramatic rise in suicide rates among middle-aged people, according to a new study by sociologists Professor Ellen Idler of Emory and Professor Julie Phillips of Rutgers University, published in Public Health Reports.

“The findings are disturbing, because they’re a reversal of a long-standing trend,” Professor Idler says.

The suicide rate for the United States population overall has been declining for decades, Professor Idler notes. And people aged 40-59, in particular, have long had a moderate suicide rate.

The baby boomers, people born between 1945 and 1964, have broken that pattern. By 2000, most people aged 40 to 59 were baby boomers and the suicide rate started climbing steadily for these middle-age ranges.

The authors found significant increases of more than 2% per year for men, and more than 3% per year for women, from 1999 to 2005. By 2005, all middle-aged people were baby boomers.

The post-1999 increase has been particularly dramatic for those who are unmarried and those without a college degree, the analysis showed. For example, from 2000 to 2005, the suicide rate jumped nearly 30% for men and women aged 50 to 59 with some college but no degree. Middle-aged people with a college degree appeared largely protected from the trend.

The baby boomers also experienced higher suicide rates during their adolescence and young adulthood, doubling the rate for those age groups at the time. Their suicide rate then declined slightly and stabilized, before beginning to increase again in midlife.

Higher rates of substance abuse and the onset of chronic diseases are among other possible factors in the rising baby boomer suicide rate.

“As children, the baby boomers were the healthiest cohort that had ever lived, due to the availability of antibiotics and vaccines,” Professor Idler says.

“Chronic conditions could be more of a rude awakening for them in midlife than they were for earlier generations.”

Traditionally, midlife has been considered a time when people are at their peak of social integration.

“We need to pay attention to this new increase in suicides, during a period of life previously thought to be stable and relatively protected from suicide, and in an age group now occupied by extraordinarily large numbers of people,” Professor Idler said.