Relative Misery and Youth Suicide

Abstract

Objective: To test the ‘absolute misery hypothesis’ that suicide rates are a proxy measure of psychological maladjustment within the general population of young people. Method: Study I regressed World Health Organization statistics on youth suicide rates on measures of adolescent adjustment across seven countries. Study II analysed the results of a Canadian survey involving 2111 children from 31 schools in grades seven to 12 (ages 11–20 years, mean = 15.5, SD = 1.7). The survey contained measures of suicidality, depressed affect and social comparison. Results: Study I found that male suicide was much more likely in psychologically welladjusted countries than in less well-adjusted countries. Although not statistically significant in a sample of this size (n = 7), correlation analysis suggested that the relationship between suicide and adjustment was in the opposite direction for females. Study II found that suicidality in boys was not associated with depressed affect on its own, or with social comparison on its own, but was associated with the combination of depressed affect and negative social comparison. By contrast, suicidality in girls was significantly associated both with absolute and comparative levels of unhappiness. Conclusions: A new, ‘relative misery hypothesis’ is proposed to account for these results. Under this hypothesis, the disposition of vulnerable young men towards suicide is influenced by their affective state relative to others. When those around them are perceived to be better off than they are, the predisposition of young men to suicide is increased. By contrast, female suicide is predicted to be less influenced by young women's relative state, and more by their absolute level of unhappiness. The primary implication of the relative misery hypothesis is that the prevention of young male suicide in particular is likely to require methods that discourage vulnerable individuals from making negative social comparisons.