2008 Recession Likely Contributed to Suicide Surge

Wavebreakmedia Ltd/Wavebreak Media/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Past research has indicated that middle-aged suicide rates affecting Americans between 40 and 64 years old have increased by 40 percent since 1999, with the sharpest rise shortly after 2007, coinciding with the 2008 recession.

Researchers at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research have now looked at further data from the National Violent Death Reporting System in a new study published Friday in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine.  

Specific external circumstances – such as job loss, bankruptcy, foreclosure, and other financial setbacks – may have played a larger role in these deaths, according to researchers.

Personal circumstances, such as mental illness, played a slightly decreasing role, researchers said.

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