An Epidemiologic Study of Adolescent Suicide*

Abstract

This study investigated suicides by persons aged ten to nineteen during the years 1978 to 1982 in the City of Montreal. Records of death in the Office of the Coroner, City of Montreal, were examined and suicides designated according to standard criteria. Age, sex, method of suicide, and month of death were noted. Mean incidence of suicide for the entire sample was 5.92 per 100,000 population. The mean figure for males was 9.52 and for females 2.32, with the incidence greater among males in each of the five years. Incidence of suicide in the fifteen to nineteen year old group was approximately ten times that in the ten to fourteen year old group, a difference which was constant across sex and across the five year period. Among boys, hanging was the most frequent method of suicide, with firearms second, and jumping from a height or in front of a vehicle third. Among girls, drug intoxication was most common, with firearms and jumping ranking second and third respectively. No monthly periodicity was found. The epidemiology of adolescent suicide in Montreal appears to be similar to that reported in other locations.