Methods of youth suicide in New Zealand: trends and implications for prevention

OBJECTIVE: One commonly suggested approach to reducing suicide is to restrict access to potentially lethal means of suicide. This paper summarises recent trends in methods of suicide among young people in New Zealand and examines the feasibility of suicide prevention through restricting access to methods of suicide. METHOD: Data derived from official mortality statistics were used to examine trends, from 1977 to 1996, in methods of suicide among young people aged 15-24 years. RESULTS: During the last two decades, male youth suicide rates in New Zealand doubled, from 20.3 per 100,000 in 1977 to 39.5 per 100,000 in 1996. This increase was accounted for, almost entirely, by increased use of hanging (71% of total increase) and vehicle exhaust gas (26% of total increase). Suicide rates among young females also increased, from 4 per 100,000 in 1977 to 14.3 per 100,000 in 1996. As for males, the increased female suicide rate was largely accounted for by increased rates of hanging and vehicle exhaust gas. CONCLUSIONS: The marked increases in rates of youth suicide in New Zealand during the past two decades are accounted for, almost wholly, by increases in rates of suicide by hanging and, to a lesser extent, vehicle exhaust gas. In 1996 the majority (79.7%) of youth suicides were accounted for by these two methods: hanging (61.5%) and vehicle exhaust gas (18.2%). Both methods are widely available and difficult to restrict, implying that limiting access to means of suicide is a strategy which is unlikely to play a major role in reducing suicidal behaviour among young people in New Zealand.