Birth Month and Suicide among Major League Baseball Players

Abstract

We examined the association between month of birth and completed suicides among major league baseball players ( N = 76). More than twice as many players born in August committed suicide ( N = 19) than any other birth month. This association was statistically significant when birth month was corrected for differences in days of the month. The differences were even larger when expressed in terms of birth month for those committing suicides divided by number of major league players born in each month. The association between birth month and suicide raises the possibility that prenatal factors may influence the inclination for suicide later in life.