Marital status and suicide in the National Longitudinal Mortality Study

Objectives-The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of marital st atus on the risk of suicide, using a large nationally representative sample . A related objective was to investigate the association between marital st atus and suicide by sex. Methods-Cox proportional hazards regression models were applied to data fro m the National Longitudinal Mortality Study, based on the 1979-1989 follow up. In estimating the effect of marital status, adjustments were made for a ge, sex, race, education, family income, and region of residence. Results-For the entire sample, higher risks of suicide were found in divorc ed than in married persons. Divorced and separated persons were over twice as likely to commit suicide as married persons (RR=2.08, 95% confidence int ervals (95% CI) 1.58, 2.72). Being single or widowed had no significant eff ect on suicide risk. When data were stratified by sex, it was observed that the risk of suicide among divorced men was over twice that of married men (RR=2.38, CI 1.77, 3.20). Among women, however, there were no statistically significant differentials in the risk of suicide by marital status categor ies. Conclusions-Marital status, especially divorce, has strong net effect on mo rtality from suicide, but only among men. The study showed that in epidemio logical research on suicide, more accurate results would be obtained if sam ples are stratified on the basis of key demographic or social characteristi cs. The study further observed that failure to control for relevant socioec onomic variables or combining men and women in the same models could produc e misleading results.