ELECTRONIC VERSION - SOME TABLES ARE NOT INCLUDED - PLEASE REFER TO HARD COPY THE EPIDEMIC IN YOUTH SUICIDE RESEARCH BULLETIN NO 1/96 LINDA WOODROW QUEENSLAND PARLIAMENTARY LIBRARY Publications and Resources Section BRISBANE January 1996 ISSN 1325-1341 ISBN 0 7242 6801 4 © Queensland Parliamentary Library, 1996 Copyright protects this publication. Except for purposes permitted by the Copyright Act 1968, reproduction by whatever means is prohibited, other than by Members of the Queensland Parliament in the course of their official duties, without the prior written permission of the Parliamentary Librarian, Queensland Parliamentary Library. Inquiries should be addressed to: Director, Publications & Resources, Queensland Parliamentary Library, Parliament House, George Street, Brisbane. Director: Ms Mary Seefried. ABSTRACT Australia has one of the highest rates of youth suicide in the world, and Queensland’s rate of death by suicide is higher than the national average. Suicide was the leading cause of death for young Queensland males in 1994. Young Aboriginal men and young men living in rural and remote parts of the state have rates of death by suicide that are two to three times the national average. The proportion of deaths in young males due to suicide has been steadily increasing for the last twenty years. This Research Bulletin outlines the principal characteristics of young suicides, examines the reasons for the rising rates of youth suicide, and canvasses options for reducing those rates. Linda Woodrow studied at University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with majors in sociology and government. She has worked as a research officer with Queensland Parliamentary Library, and in a wide range of fields from opera production to mining exploration. Linda is the author of The Permaculture Home Garden (Penguin, 1996) and is currently working on her second book, Ritual, Culture and Community. She lives in a rural area. Linda’s brother Jason Marshall Bayley, suicided at age twenty on 20 August 1995. CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 1 2. THE SIZE OF THE EPIDEMIC .................................................................... 5 3. WHO ARE THEY? ....................................................................................... 11 3.1 THE VAST MAJORITY ARE MALE......................................................................................... 11 3.2 MOST ARE YOUNG............................................................................................................. 15 3.3 MANY ARE DEPRESSED ...................................................................................................... 15 3.4 TOO MANY LIVE IN RURAL AND REMOTE AREAS ................................................................. 16 3.5 MOST ARE ALCOHOL AFFECTED........................................................................................... 19 3.6 A FEW ARE CANNABIS AFFECTED ........................................................................................ 21 3.7 MANY ARE UNEMPLOYED................................................................................................... 22 3.8 THEY ARE LIKELY TO HAVE TRIED BEFORE......................................................................... 24 3.9 SOME ARE MENTALLY ILL.................................................................................................. 24 3.10 SOME ARE OFFENDERS..................................................................................................... 26 3.11 TOO MANY ARE ABORIGINAL........................................................................................... 26 3.12 THEY COME FROM ORDINARY FAMILIES ........................................................................... 27 4. WHY? ............................................................................................................ 28 4.1 UNEMPLOYMENT -THERE’S NO FUTURE ON THE DOLE ......................................................... 28 4.2 HOPELESSNESS - THE WORLD IS GOING DOWN THE GURGLER.............................................. 29 4.3 YOUTH CULTURE - LIFE SUCKS ........................................................................................... 29 4.4 SELF-ABUSE - GETTING OFF YOUR FACE............................................................................. 30 4.5 MODELS OF MASCULINITY.................................................................................................. 30 4.6 AVAILABILITY OF MEANS ................................................................................................... 31 4.7 SOCIETAL CHANGES........................................................................................................... 32 5. WHAT CAN BE DONE ................................................................................ 34 5.1 SOCIOLOGY ....................................................................................................................... 35 5.2 PSYCHOLOGY..................................................................................................................... 36 5.3 PSYCHIATRY...................................................................................................................... 37 5.4 EPIDEMIOLOGY AND RESEARCH .......................................................................................... 38 5.5 RESTRICTION OF MEANS..................................................................................................... 38 5.6 CURRENT PROGRAMS ......................................................................................................... 39 6. CONCLUSION.............................................................................................. 42 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................. 43 APPENDIX A ...................................................................................................... 1 APPENDIX B ...................................................................................................... 1 APPENDIX C ...................................................................................................... 1 APPENDIX D ...................................................................................................... 1 The Epidemic in Youth Suicide Page 1 1. INTRODUCTION On 1st August 1995 Jason Bayley turned twenty. On 20th August, in the early hours of the morning, he committed suicide. Jason is part of what the National Injury Surveillance Unit is now calling an epidemic in suicide amongst young men.1 Australia has one of the highest rates of youth suicide in the world and Queensland’s rate is significantly above the national average overall, and over double the national rate in some regions. Suicide is now the leading cause of death amongst 15 to 24 year olds in Queensland. It is the contribution made by young men like Jason that has led to the steep rise. As Dr Michael Dudley says, “The trend is that young males aged 15 to 24 are killing themselves at three times the rate that they were doing so 30 years ago”.2 Jason very closely fitted the profile of many of these young men. He was tall, intelligent, good looking, and although in retrospect he could be identified as having many of the known risk factors, he shared them with so many of his generation that his suicide was totally unexpected. He was troubled, worried about the state of Australia and the world and cynical about the prospects of his generation “fixing it up”. But as numerous surveys have shown, these are characteristics that are so common that they are “normal” in modern youth. He had a job, which he loved, as a first year apprentice mechanic, but it had taken him several years to secure it and he was very frightened of losing it. He was very aware of the youth unemployment rates and the stigma attached to being “on the dole”. Unemployment rates, particularly the relative disadvantage borne by youth, and even more by youth in some geographic areas, are strongly correlated with suicide rates.3 Alcohol was a big part of his social life. He routinely spent most weekends going out with mates, to the pub or to grab a carton and watch a football game on television. He was contemptuous of drink drivers or those who let drinking interfere 1 James Harrison, Jerry Moller and John Dolinis, Suicide in Australia: Past Trends and Current Patterns, Australian Injury Prevention Bulletin, Issue 5, February 1994, p.4. 2 ‘You might as well live’, Cutting Edge, SBS Television, 24 October 1995. 3 Stephen Morrell, ‘Suicide: a historical perspective with some implications for research and prevention’, in, Suicide Prevention: Public Health Significance of Suicide Prevention Strategies, Proceedings and Abstracts of the National Suicide Prevention Conference 1994, Public Health Association of Australia, Canberra, 1995, p.38. Page 2 The Epidemic in Youth Suicide with their work performance. He was not a solitary, morose, or aggressive drunk, but he was regularly drunk. However, as the National Health and Medical Research Council has noted with reference to a survey conducted in South Australia, “binge drinking on weekends could almost be considered to be the norm for men aged 18 to 24 years”.4 He was inclined, particularly when he had been drinking, to indulge in impulsive and risk-taking behaviour - to show-off his physical prowess and bravery. Researchers suggest that this is