Sex differences in elderly suicide rates: some predictive factors

In the USA the rate of suicide among individuals aged 65 and older is higher than that for any other age group. There is a marked sex difference, with men accounting for 86% of elderly suicides. Using a sample consisting of every reported suicide death of older individuals between 1986 and 1990 (N = 31,541), it was found that a different pattern of variables was predictive of suicide rates for men and women. For elderly men, factors associated with financial and social status were the best predictors of suicide. For elderly women, the predictors were indexes of social and environmental stability and stress. These findings may be explainable by psychological theories which speak of sex differences in the personality domains known as agency and communion, and similar considerations may help to explain why the suicide rate for: men tends to increase in old age, while that for women remains relatively constant.