SUICIDE AND PARASUICIDE IN LONDON - A SMALL-AREA STUDY

This study discusses variability in the spatial prevalence of suicide and parasuicide across small areas in London in relation to the social and demographic composition of their populations. The focus is on the relative importance in explaining suicidal outcomes of variables repr esenting respectively social deprivation, psychiatric morbidity and an omie (or community fragmentation), and of differentiation in the effec ts of these factors across sub-populations. There is strong evidence f or such contextual effects-namely, varying effects of these socio-econ omic factors according to geographical setting-as well as for differen tial associations by age group, sex and type of outcome (suicide vs pa rasuicide).