Title

Suicide Notes in Hong Kong in 2000

Authors

Authors

P. W. C. Wong; A. W. M. Yeung; W. S. C. Chan; P. S. F. Yip;A. K. H. Tang

Abstract

Suicide notes have been regarded as one of the most informative data sources to understand the reasons why people commit suicide. However, there is a paucity of suicide note studies, leaving researchers with an assumption that this phenomenon remains static over time. This study examines this assumption by comparing the characteristics of note-leavers of the same population at 2 different points in time. The authors investigated the characteristics of 316 note-leavers in 2000 in Hong Kong and compared them to note-leavers in 1992. The proportion of people who left suicide notes increased from 20% to 35% between 1992 and 2000, a change that may be related to changes in suicide methods. Note-leavers in 2000 were characterized as individuals aged 25-59 years old, employed, with no physical illness, no psychiatric illness, and died as a result of charcoal-burning. Present data suggest that reasons for leaving suicide notes may have changed over the 8 years from 1992 to 2000.

Journal Title

Death Studies

Volume

33

Issue/Number

4

Publication Date

1-1-2009

Document Type

Article

First Page

372

Last Page

381

WOS Identifier

WOS:000264340200004

ISSN

0748-1187

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