At Risk

An alarming report was released by researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Suicide rates in the U.S. have risen 0.7% since 1999, driven by the most unlikely of demographics: middle-aged white women between the ages of 40-64. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081021/us_nm/us_suicide_usa/print) The rate of suicide among middle-aged women rose 3.9% between 1999-2005, and according to Susan Baker, a professor in injury prevention with a special expertise in suicide, “’The biggest increase that we have seen . . . was the increase in poisoning suicide in women -- that went up by 57 percent.’”’ The suicide numbers were obtained from death certificates provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Researchers are at a loss to explain the rise, since those historically at highest-risk for suicide are “teens and young adults of both genders as well as elderly white men.”

What could account for the change?

· Is this an unintended consequence of the rising divorce rate? Are we witnessing greater numbers of women suffering from depression because they are without a spouse or a companion? Perhaps the increased responsibilities single mothers are burdened with are taking their toll.

· Or maybe the rising suicide rate is a consequence of more women entering the workplace. Working a full-time job and then coming home to a family and the pressures of motherhood might be too much of a strain. After all it is like working two full-time jobs. Some women have no choice but to work because of financial considerations. Other women work because they want a career while they raise a family. Regardless of the reason for working, perhaps the stress is too much.

Let’s hope more research is done to find answers. Women aged 40-64 are the bedrock of our society. I’d hate to see what this world would look like without them.

Donald Tremblay